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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The majority of students getting extra time on the SAT are affluent and white. The number of students getting accommodations has skyrocketed. The College Board is NOT allowed to flag if you have extra time or not.

This is the reason why so many students at top schools get accommodations. [b]Almost 40% of Stanford students are registered as having a disability.[/b] [/quote]

12.5% of Stanford students have academic accommodations. The majority of accommodations are related to housing and/or religion. For example, my Stanford kid has severe food allergies so can’t be placed with an unknown roommate (not as relevant as an upperclassman with a draw group but extremely relevant as a freshman)—the university classifies this as a “disability.” She, like 87.5% of her fellow students, does not have any academic accommodations.[/quote]

[b]12.5% is still a lot.[/b]

Most kids are just gaming accommodations to get better housing.[/quote]

Not really, considering that “in the US, roughly 15% of all public school students (about 7.5 million children ages 3–21) receive special education or related services. Nationwide, around 8% to 12% of all K-12 students have identified learning or attention issues that require formal accommodations under an IEP or 504 plan.” (National Center of Education Statistics)[/quote]

But at Stanford?
IEP and 504 kids are disproportionately not doing as well as the rest of their peers.
You think there is really that level of disability at the far right hand side of the curve?[/quote]

Courtesy of ChatGPT: Yes, 12.5% of students receiving academic accommodations at Stanford is quite plausible, and it doesn't necessarily conflict with the observation that students with IEPs and 504 plans, on average, perform less well academically than their peers.

A few reasons:

1. "Students with accommodations" is not the same as "students with severe academic impairment"

The K–12 accommodation population is very heterogeneous.

An IEP can cover:

* Dyslexia
* ADHD
* Autism
* Hearing or visual impairments
* Chronic health conditions
* Mobility impairments
* Speech/language disorders
* Emotional disabilities

Many of these conditions have little to no impact on intellectual ability. Some are actually overrepresented among very high-IQ individuals.

For example, there is substantial overlap between:

* ADHD and high intelligence
* Autism spectrum conditions and exceptional quantitative ability
* Dyslexia and high verbal reasoning or creativity

A student can be in the top 1% academically while still qualifying for accommodations.

2. Selection effects are enormous at Stanford

Suppose 10% of the general population has a condition that qualifies for accommodations.

The relevant question isn't:

> What fraction of accommodated students go to Stanford?

It's:

> Among exceptionally talented students, what fraction happen to have disabilities?

Many disabilities are largely independent of intelligence.

For example:

* ADHD prevalence is roughly similar across the IQ distribution.
* Dyslexia occurs across the IQ distribution.
* Physical disabilities occur across the IQ distribution.

If a condition is independent of cognitive ability, you'd expect roughly similar rates among highly selective university populations.

3. Accommodations may increase, rather than decrease, access to elite schools

A student with untreated ADHD might underperform.

A student with diagnosed ADHD who receives:

* extra time,
* medication,
* executive-function support,

may perform much closer to their underlying ability.

In other words, accommodations can reduce the academic penalty associated with the disability.

4. Stanford's accommodation population is probably not the same mix as K–12's

This is important.

In K–12, special education includes many students with:

* intellectual disability,
* severe developmental disabilities,
* substantial learning impairments.

Those students are rarely represented at Stanford.

The Stanford accommodation population is likely concentrated in conditions such as:

* ADHD
* Dyslexia
* Autism without intellectual impairment
* Chronic medical conditions
* Mental health conditions
* Sensory or physical disabilities

Those groups have much higher probabilities of reaching elite academic levels.

5. There is evidence that disability rates can actually be high at elite universities

Elite colleges often report accommodation rates around 10–20%, much higher than people intuitively expect.

Several factors contribute:

* Better access to diagnosis among affluent students.
* Greater willingness to seek accommodations.
* Increased recognition of ADHD and learning disabilities.
* Students who were previously undiagnosed obtaining documentation in college.
* Mental-health-related accommodations.[/quote]

They are the ones that made the reference to IEP and 504 to make the case that 12.5% isn't high for academic accommodations. \

12.5% is 1 in 8.  That is exceedingly high[/quote]

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