Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents do not have to spend a dime for accommodations.

Public schools will test ANY student (public or private) for suspect disabilities (for free), or parents can seek a private evaluation and provide it to the school. In the event of diabetes, a doctor's letter and a 504 plan at school is sufficient.

The schools are the ones that have to jump through hoops. Only homeschooling parents are allowed to seek accommodations for school.

ACT and SAT do not accept requests directly from parents.

You make it sound like this can’t be game. But...wait...it can be. This isn’t debatable. Read the news.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents do not have to spend a dime for accommodations.

Public schools will test ANY student (public or private) for suspect disabilities (for free), or parents can seek a private evaluation and provide it to the school. In the event of diabetes, a doctor's letter and a 504 plan at school is sufficient.

The schools are the ones that have to jump through hoops. Only homeschooling parents are allowed to seek accommodations for school.

ACT and SAT do not accept requests directly from parents.

Do you have a SN child? We do and it was a joke. Sure, they technically provide it but it really is school and child dependent. You make it sound so simple. We did a private evaluation (multiple over the years) and the school ignored them. They did their own and ignored their findings. The IEP and services had nothing to do with my child's needs and when we asked for specific things we were denied. It cost us a fortune in outside services (well worth it).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To the posters who are pushing for extra time for all students:

My DC received a scribe and a reader in addition to 50% extra time. Do you think that all students should get a scribe and a reader too? Or is it just the extra time accommodation that you have qualms about?

FWIW, the 50% extra time is automatically given if a student receives a scribe/reader accommodation because it takes longer to take the test with a reader/scribe.

No, because I don’t believe a scribe would help your average student at all. I definitely believe extra time would help your average student. I think a lot of people on here agree with me.

But if they gave extra time to everyone, it wouldn't be "extra" time. It would be lengthening the test and, arguably, everyone's scores would still be roughly the same percentiles. The idea is that everyone has the same amount of time, so it's a level playing field. There are some kids for whom the field is not level because of disabilities, so they give them extra time to make it level.

The issue is that people think others' kids fake disabilities. If that's the case, maybe they need to be tougher on giving accommodations and require more than a neurppsych exam.

Anonymous wrote:Parents do not have to spend a dime for accommodations.

Public schools will test ANY student (public or private) for suspect disabilities (for free), or parents can seek a private evaluation and provide it to the school. In the event of diabetes, a doctor's letter and a 504 plan at school is sufficient.

The schools are the ones that have to jump through hoops. Only homeschooling parents are allowed to seek accommodations for school.

ACT and SAT do not accept requests directly from parents.

Anonymous wrote:Parents do not have to spend a dime for accommodations.

Public schools will test ANY student (public or private) for suspect disabilities (for free), or parents can seek a private evaluation and provide it to the school. In the event of diabetes, a doctor's letter and a 504 plan at school is sufficient.

The schools are the ones that have to jump through hoops. Only homeschooling parents are allowed to seek accommodations for school.

ACT and SAT do not accept requests directly from parents.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I understand that accommodations should be made, but I do have a question on how they are structured. How are accommodations, specifically extra time, accurately calibrated to a student's need? For example, if all the students without accommodations in a class have difficulty finishing an exam on time or with no time to review answers but the students with accommodations have no such problems does that mean the amount of extra time they were given is too much? What if 50% of the class finishes the exam and 50% does not? How much extra time should the student receive in that instance? What ends up being fair to the student needing extra time but unfair to the other students in the class?

That is what has been pointed out. The accommodations are not personalized. Even those w accommodations- some are benefiitting from too much time while others are given too little. Then u have the abuse by the wealthy in private schools. And then you have the poor/rural/clueless families. Just untimed it for everyone

Accommodations are personalized to a certain extent. There is basically a range of options that the College Board chooses from.

For additional time on the SAT, for example, the alternatives at 1.5x; 2.0x and multi-day testing (taken solo with a proctor -- what Singer bribed a proctor to get)

For students who need keyboarding -- sometimes it is approved for all written sections (SAT writing or AP tests) or sometimes only for the long essays, not the FRQs.

Testing can be done in a room alone, or in a small group with other students (all must have the same amount of time to complete).

Breaks can be 1 per administration, 2 or 3, and it is specified when they can occur (between this section, but not that).

And so on.

Schools ask for the options that most mirror what the student gets in school, and the College Board decides whether to match it exactly or provide something else. They state that what a student needs for day to day classroom work is not necessarily what is required for their test.

I know of 2 diabetic kids who got double the time and snacks during the tests. What they should have gotten was breaks between to monitor their blood sugar levels. At end of the day, these are not personalized accommodations. Some kids w accommodations are getting too much time and some kids are getting too little. And why do parents have to spend money and jump through hoops to get these accommodations for a college test? Why for those who need it that their fates depend on a bureaucract who may be having a bad day? Just untime the tests.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I understand that accommodations should be made, but I do have a question on how they are structured. How are accommodations, specifically extra time, accurately calibrated to a student's need? For example, if all the students without accommodations in a class have difficulty finishing an exam on time or with no time to review answers but the students with accommodations have no such problems does that mean the amount of extra time they were given is too much? What if 50% of the class finishes the exam and 50% does not? How much extra time should the student receive in that instance? What ends up being fair to the student needing extra time but unfair to the other students in the class?

That is what has been pointed out. The accommodations are not personalized. Even those w accommodations- some are benefiitting from too much time while others are given too little. Then u have the abuse by the wealthy in private schools. And then you have the poor/rural/clueless families. Just untimed it for everyone

Accommodations are personalized to a certain extent. There is basically a range of options that the College Board chooses from.

For additional time on the SAT, for example, the alternatives at 1.5x; 2.0x and multi-day testing (taken solo with a proctor -- what Singer bribed a proctor to get)

For students who need keyboarding -- sometimes it is approved for all written sections (SAT writing or AP tests) or sometimes only for the long essays, not the FRQs.

Testing can be done in a room alone, or in a small group with other students (all must have the same amount of time to complete).

Breaks can be 1 per administration, 2 or 3, and it is specified when they can occur (between this section, but not that).

And so on.

Schools ask for the options that most mirror what the student gets in school, and the College Board decides whether to match it exactly or provide something else. They state that what a student needs for day to day classroom work is not necessarily what is required for their test.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I understand that accommodations should be made, but I do have a question on how they are structured. How are accommodations, specifically extra time, accurately calibrated to a student's need? For example, if all the students without accommodations in a class have difficulty finishing an exam on time or with no time to review answers but the students with accommodations have no such problems does that mean the amount of extra time they were given is too much? What if 50% of the class finishes the exam and 50% does not? How much extra time should the student receive in that instance? What ends up being fair to the student needing extra time but unfair to the other students in the class?

That is what has been pointed out. The accommodations are not personalized. Even those w accommodations- some are benefiitting from too much time while others are given too little. Then u have the abuse by the wealthy in private schools. And then you have the poor/rural/clueless families. Just untimed it for everyone

Ok how about this...
You have the option of TIMED or UNTIMED. You have to say which one you chose. If your kid has a documented disability and has been approved for accommodations, your kid gets accommodations that do not have to be disclosed. This is more consistent with IDEA and would mitigate any potential bias that college admissions officers have towards LD kids. So LD kids would just check TIMED.

This way, all you parents who are bemoaning that your non-disabled kid didn’t get extra time- well now you can have extra time. And colleges will know it.

Why though? Is it important to know the material? Or know it fast? And if I can't recall it faster than Larla, does that mean I'm not smarter? Maybe that is a deficit I have, whether something undiagnosed or just something inherent in my ability? And why shouldn't that be accommodated?

If we are going to hold standardized tests up to cull the herd for college admissions, knowledge should be the key. Not "faster knowledge."

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is back to the idea that all kids can choose to take the test timed or untimed - then graded within each cohort.

Actually this is pretty smart. Give all kids the option of taking it timed or untimed but have a box that must be filled out. Either:
TIMED
UNTIMED
UNTIMED-DISABILITY ACCOMMODATION

You have to select one. (No HIPAA/IDEA violation bc you don’t have to disclose that you got a disability accommodation- you could just check UNTIMED.)

This way, kids who took the timed test would go to the top of the pack, and whiny parents who think Johnny should have more time because Larla with dyslexia got more time can have Johnny judged accordingly by all the top schools they thinks he deserves to go to.

There shouldn't be a top of the pack for timed. You could as easily say that anyone who chooses 'untimed' was more deliberate and a better student.

Sorry but if I’m a college admissions officer and I’m comparing a 1500 timed, a 1500 untimed due to disability accommodation, and an untimed for no reason, the timed kid is looking the best to me and Johnny-untimed-for-no-reason is looking the worst. Worse then a kid who got a timed 1400 even.

And this, plus apparently a complete lack of comprehension or ability to think critically, is why you're not an admissions officer. Do you even have a job?

I would think the same thing. Why are we wrong?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I understand that accommodations should be made, but I do have a question on how they are structured. How are accommodations, specifically extra time, accurately calibrated to a student's need? For example, if all the students without accommodations in a class have difficulty finishing an exam on time or with no time to review answers but the students with accommodations have no such problems does that mean the amount of extra time they were given is too much? What if 50% of the class finishes the exam and 50% does not? How much extra time should the student receive in that instance? What ends up being fair to the student needing extra time but unfair to the other students in the class?

That is what has been pointed out. The accommodations are not personalized. Even those w accommodations- some are benefiitting from too much time while others are given too little. Then u have the abuse by the wealthy in private schools. And then you have the poor/rural/clueless families. Just untimed it for everyone

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I understand that accommodations should be made, but I do have a question on how they are structured. How are accommodations, specifically extra time, accurately calibrated to a student's need? For example, if all the students without accommodations in a class have difficulty finishing an exam on time or with no time to review answers but the students with accommodations have no such problems does that mean the amount of extra time they were given is too much? What if 50% of the class finishes the exam and 50% does not? How much extra time should the student receive in that instance? What ends up being fair to the student needing extra time but unfair to the other students in the class?

That is what has been pointed out. The accommodations are not personalized. Even those w accommodations- some are benefiitting from too much time while others are given too little. Then u have the abuse by the wealthy in private schools. And then you have the poor/rural/clueless families. Just untimed it for everyone

Ok how about this...
You have the option of TIMED or UNTIMED. You have to say which one you chose. If your kid has a documented disability and has been approved for accommodations, your kid gets accommodations that do not have to be disclosed. This is more consistent with IDEA and would mitigate any potential bias that college admissions officers have towards LD kids. So LD kids would just check TIMED.

This way, all you parents who are bemoaning that your non-disabled kid didn’t get extra time- well now you can have extra time. And colleges will know it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is back to the idea that all kids can choose to take the test timed or untimed - then graded within each cohort.

Actually this is pretty smart. Give all kids the option of taking it timed or untimed but have a box that must be filled out. Either:
TIMED
UNTIMED
UNTIMED-DISABILITY ACCOMMODATION

You have to select one. (No HIPAA/IDEA violation bc you don’t have to disclose that you got a disability accommodation- you could just check UNTIMED.)

This way, kids who took the timed test would go to the top of the pack, and whiny parents who think Johnny should have more time because Larla with dyslexia got more time can have Johnny judged accordingly by all the top schools they thinks he deserves to go to.

There shouldn't be a top of the pack for timed. You could as easily say that anyone who chooses 'untimed' was more deliberate and a better student.

Sorry but if I’m a college admissions officer and I’m comparing a 1500 timed, a 1500 untimed due to disability accommodation, and an untimed for no reason, the timed kid is looking the best to me and Johnny-untimed-for-no-reason is looking the worst. Worse then a kid who got a timed 1400 even.

And this, plus apparently a complete lack of comprehension or ability to think critically, is why you're not an admissions officer. Do you even have a job?

Anonymous wrote:I understand that accommodations should be made, but I do have a question on how they are structured. How are accommodations, specifically extra time, accurately calibrated to a student's need? For example, if all the students without accommodations in a class have difficulty finishing an exam on time or with no time to review answers but the students with accommodations have no such problems does that mean the amount of extra time they were given is too much? What if 50% of the class finishes the exam and 50% does not? How much extra time should the student receive in that instance? What ends up being fair to the student needing extra time but unfair to the other students in the class?