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

Forum Index » College and University Discussion

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

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]This debate is scraming for some data.

Based on this article from Education Week (from someone who thinks the SAT should be untimed for all) in 2015-16 the college board received 160,000 requests for accommodations and approved about 80% of them. https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2017/08/25/have-sat-accommodations-gone-too-far.html

So 128,000 students took the test with accommodations (perhaps slightly less because this isn't adjusted for people who took it 2x). https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2017/08/25/have-sat-accommodations-gone-too-far.html

1,681,134 students took the SAT that year. https://reports.collegeboard.org/archive/sat-suite-program-results/2016/class-of-2016-results

So, ~ 7% of students received accommodations on the test in 2016.

The CDC estimates that the percentage of the population with reading-related learning disabilities is 10%; the percentage of people under the age of 18 who have ADHD is about 15%, and 2/3 of the number of people with ADJD + at least one other mental, emotional, or behavioral disorder. https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/adhd/data.html

While the number of students with ADHD may go up or down by year, in general the rate of students receiving accommodations is lower than the percentage in the general student population.

The problem of fake or questionable diagnoses is probably outsized in certain communities (like the DMV), but this is not the crisis or scandal some on this thread think it is. [/quote]

So you think the fact that accommodations have more than doubled is just natural? Your author disagrees entirely.

The College Board’s allowance of accommodations (or are they modifications?) has grown in recent years. T[b]he board received (and approved 85 percent of) around 80,000 accommodation requests in 2010-11 and 160,000 requests in 2015-16, according to The Record. Where will it end, especially with planned accommodations for English-language learners? Will we reach a tipping point when we must acknowledge that the SAT is no longer standardized? IEPs or 504 plans should not drive test policy, but apparently now they will.[/b]

What to do? If the College Board determines that timing is essential, its options to ensure the SAT’s validity include either not allowing extra time for any student, or, in this personalized-learning era, allowing all students to choose whether to take the test timed or with extra time. If the latter, their reports should indicate nonstandard-test administration. The SAT’s time limits have challenged children and educators for years. Since students can opt to take the essay portion of the SAT, why not provide other options? I suspect there are many students without IEPs or 504 plans who might welcome and benefit from more time.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics