Claiming a disability on the SAT/ACT - have people been gaming the system?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So doing the math:
% of population = white 49% + blacks 15% + Hispanics 26%= 90%

% accommodations = white 63% + blacks 14% + Hispanics 21% = 98%

So Asians and other races make up 10% of the student population and receive 2% of accommodations

This doesn’t cry out to anyone of the abuse of the system?

Yes, it does. White people are great at playing the game to benefit themselves.

Or perhaps just putting in the effort and caring for their kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So doing the math:
% of population = white 49% + blacks 15% + Hispanics 26%= 90%

% accommodations = white 63% + blacks 14% + Hispanics 21% = 98%

So Asians and other races make up 10% of the student population and receive 2% of accommodations

This doesn’t cry out to anyone of the abuse of the system?

Hard to say. I suspect there is some abuse by whites (and perhaps others). There is also probably some underutilization of accommodations by blacks and hispanics. It is not possible from these numbers to tell how much of each, but I would wager it is a mixture.

[Anonymous]

And probably underutilization by Asian families if they are immigrants and don't know how to navigate the system or have cultural stigmas around doing that. The low income students may not have resources to pay for evaluations to get accommodations. Evaluations cost an arm and a leg.

[Anonymous]

I think one of the solutions to this (in an effort to avoid ruining it for kids who legitimately need accommodations) is to require ACT and College Board scrutinize any requests for accommodations where there is no history of accommodations prior to middle school. I think many of those who are gaming the system do so when they get closer to high school or while in high school. Any kid who was diagnosed in elementary school and has been using accommodations all along is going to most likely be legitimately "disabled," whereas the kid who applies as a freshman or sophomore in high school is more suspect. Those applications should just go through a more rigorous review and be scrutinized and rejections for accommodations should happen more than not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think one of the solutions to this (in an effort to avoid ruining it for kids who legitimately need accommodations) is to require ACT and College Board scrutinize any requests for accommodations where there is no history of accommodations prior to middle school. I think many of those who are gaming the system do so when they get closer to high school or while in high school. Any kid who was diagnosed in elementary school and has been using accommodations all along is going to most likely be legitimately "disabled," whereas the kid who applies as a freshman or sophomore in high school is more suspect. Those applications should just go through a more rigorous review and be scrutinized and rejections for accommodations should happen more than not.

They do this already. It's ridiculous how many posters have such helpful opinions when they don't know a thing about the process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think one of the solutions to this (in an effort to avoid ruining it for kids who legitimately need accommodations) is to require ACT and College Board scrutinize any requests for accommodations where there is no history of accommodations prior to middle school. I think many of those who are gaming the system do so when they get closer to high school or while in high school. Any kid who was diagnosed in elementary school and has been using accommodations all along is going to most likely be legitimately "disabled," whereas the kid who applies as a freshman or sophomore in high school is more suspect. Those applications should just go through a more rigorous review and be scrutinized and rejections for accommodations should happen more than not.

They do this already. It's ridiculous how many posters have such helpful opinions when they don't know a thing about the process.

Sorry, but having been through the process with both ACT and College Board, I do know "a thing" about the process. I just had a suggestion which was obviously a good one because, as you say, "they do this already." You sound like a total jerk.

[Anonymous]

I have a child who got an IEP in third grade for dyslexia. That IEP will likely stick with DC for years as the dyslexia is severe.

However, once I knew what dyslexia looked like, I suspected one of my older DC had dyslexia, just a milder form. I raised the issue to the public school, who did an evaluation. The first time they evaluated, they decided he may have had some issues but not enough to warrant an IEP or 504. The following year, DCs grades were dropping and the school evaluated again (initiated by them, not me), and this time they found dyslexia issues significant enough to warrant a 504. We never did private testing and this was through public schools. He was in HS by the time the 504 was in place.

The process really opened my eyes to how a lot of disabilities are just mild enough to be missed but significant enough to cause harm. I wouldn't have understood how impacted my older DC was if I hadn't had a younger DC with a severe form. I think that these issues are widely underdiagnosed based on my experience.

I think all tests should not be untimed, but should have double the current time, at a minimum. And I think there should be better efforts at identification of disability in poorer schools, because I suspect they are very underdiagnosed. I hadn't had the experience with my younger DC, my older DC would just have struggled along. There are probably a lot of students like DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think one of the solutions to this (in an effort to avoid ruining it for kids who legitimately need accommodations) is to require ACT and College Board scrutinize any requests for accommodations where there is no history of accommodations prior to middle school. I think many of those who are gaming the system do so when they get closer to high school or while in high school. Any kid who was diagnosed in elementary school and has been using accommodations all along is going to most likely be legitimately "disabled," whereas the kid who applies as a freshman or sophomore in high school is more suspect. Those applications should just go through a more rigorous review and be scrutinized and rejections for accommodations should happen more than not.

They do this already. It's ridiculous how many posters have such helpful opinions when they don't know a thing about the process.

Sorry, but having been through the process with both ACT and College Board, I do know "a thing" about the process. I just had a suggestion which was obviously a good one because, as you say, "they do this already." You sound like a total jerk.

Pp I do think you made a good suggest (I have a kid with a 504 - used to be IEP who got some accommodations for SAT/ACT.

There is no 'lookback' provision in the current process. They ask the schools to document a disability, what data it is based on, and whether they are used now in high school.

Yes, there are legitimate cases diagnosed in high school; those should warrant further scrutiny to determine if they are truly needed for standardized tests.