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

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]NP

I know this is dicey territory to wade into. I'm trying to understand.

For kids that need more time: 
my understanding was that the basis for giving more time was that if they were given enough time, they could show their full knowledge and understanding of the material. That is, typical students could show this in less time, and they could show this in more time. It wasn't about needing to put more restrictions on the typical kids, but making sure the kids who needed more time could use it.

So I'm not understanding why giving everyone more than enough time wouldn't work (the "untimed" arguments above). Is it that if everyone has virtually unlimited time, there are going to be some kids who are never going to be able to be at the top? Is that the problem?[/quote]

Untimed is certainly an option but brings with it other challenges, such as paying proctors for a much longer day. And no one is permitted to leave until everyone in their room is finished uncurrent rules.

The additional time is meant to put students with disabilities (whose difficulty requires it) on an equal footing with typical students.

[b]A typical student is expected to complete X in 60 minutes. For a student with a disability, the same level of challenge exists when they receive 90 minutes. [/b]

Most students with a disability won't complete any more answers in 90 minutes than a typical student would complete in 60.

[/quote]

Except from what it sounds like, this isn't what happens.  If you have a continuum of accommodations and needs, [b]then it makes no sense that the accommodations are seemingly limited to 1.5x, 2x and untimed.  [/b]

The reality is that you don't know whether the same level of challenge exists, you just cross your fingers and hope that it does.  For some students maybe 75 minutes is all that's needed.  If that's the case, then giving them 90 isn't the same.  [/quote]

For this, the testing organizations typically defer or at least take into account what the student's school tell them they use for every math / English / PARCC test etc. High school IEP/504 teams look at the data from psychologists' evaluation as well as feedback from multiple teachers about how a student is performing with extra time (is 2x too much now because they have improved? should we reduce it?), or in the case of a new plan how they have performed without it and try to allocate the appropriate amount -- and the 1.5/2.0/unlimited amounts -- are standard for every public school in the country.

School districts always have someone in an IEP meeting, so the decision isn't only the school level team (which includes a parent btw).

Private schools often have more variance and there is not the same oversight.

[/quote]

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