Reply to Extra time on tests

Forum Index » Private & Independent Schools

Reply to "Extra time on tests"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous]NP here -- I am sympathetic to both those who feel attacked for gaming the system and those who feel some do game the system.  The truth is that those with true needs ought to be supportive of those who want to be sure the gates of extra time are fairly guarded.

Our DC has severe dysgraphia -- types all papers at school but we needed to get DC tested to get an accommodation for College Board to type essays.  When formal testing was done, the results left room to argue for extra time along with the typing accommodation -- and the school learning specialist saw no downside in us seeking more time from the College Board.  Our DC was adamant that it would be unfair to friends with serious LDs and we are very proud that DC rejected the offer of more time and he ended up doing extremely well without it.   But I do believe there are other families that would have jumped at that chance to game the system if they thought it would give their child a slight edge, and therein lies the problem.

Some schools have procedures in place that may discourage abuses, but others may not.  At our school, any child who has extra time must take it.  In other words, if you have 50% more time you need to stay in the testing room 50% longer than kids without extra time.  I suppose that might motivate a child to tell his parents not to push for something he really doesn't need.  One problem with the system is that I believe extra time accommodations 
come in blocks - 50% more , double, whatever.  I don't know if the science/schools yet are zoned on precisely determining what is a "fair" amount of extra time for each specific child.  Obviously, the rounded blocks don't really do that.

Some families whose children who don't have extra time question whether it is fair that the College Board is not allowed to report to colleges that a student receives more time.  Speed still matters -- it is not the same thing as intelligence, but it is not irrelevant to school performance, and less than memory is relevant.  A child who reads more slowly, processes more slowly, writes more slowly, etc. can be capable doing amazingly great work, can outwork other kids with no LDs etc.  But certain college environments where kids may be expected to take on a very heavy reading and writing load, for example, brilliant kids with processing issues will probably have trouble succeeding.  Good high schools and conscientious parents often look to pick colleges /majors and the kids, ultimately, pick careers sometimes aware of these challenges down the road even in the face of straight As in high school.  Good counselors may disclose an LD in a cover letter (only with parent consent at our school).  But what bugs some other parents are the kids who game the system, push for boarder line needed extra time and get far more than needed, then make their records seem more competitive without disclosing that they had a better than even playing field.  Unfortunately, it probably happens and that is unfair to all the LD kids who work extra hard to overcome their disability.

I would encourage the LD community not to be defensive in the face of those that question the standards of more time, but instead work them to ensure that the system isn't abused which will ultimately hurt children who really need the accommodation. [/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