4,000 Oct SAT takers got wrong scores

Parents Forum
41

<p>sarha - that is great news! </p>

<p>roshke - I said I wanted to know exactly what happened and why, but that is almost too much information!! "Excess moisture causing answer sheets to expand" ?????? big ***!?!? Why do I suspect they are using 1960s technology to scan these answer sheets?? Still using #2 pencils. </p>

<p>Keep in mind that if 4000 students' scores were affected that could translate into 40,000 college applications. From the colleges point of view there will be many applications affected, but the total number of students affected is far less. (Just pointing out the obvious - I am not in any way minimizing the seriousness of the problem)</p>

<p>oops! Forum censor does not permit use of initials for "What- The- Figerello" !</p>

42

<p>It has been reported in Mass that this effects 500 Mass students!!!</p>

43

<p>sarha, That is great for you, congrats!</p>

<p>JeepMOM, Really? That is a sizeable chunk they had not mentioned in the press at all. </p>

<p>Hmm. Pearson's connection to Texas and Bush's No Child Left Behind.... Students affected from NY, NJ, CA and MA... Maybe it's all a vast right-wing conspiracy to lower the scores of all those kids in the blue states!!! Before anyone flames me, I'm kidding, I'm kidding. (But I know some people that would believe it) ;)</p>

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<p>ROSHKE - LOL when they can loose 40,000 tax returns in MA I can believe just about anything!!! (^^ours being one of them - a few years ago)</p>

45

<p>The LSAT is taken directly on the computer. </p>

<p>Don't know if that's better or worse.</p>

<p>There would be no paper trail to refer to.</p>

46

<p>OOO myyyyy - now the blame for the wrong SAT scores is............... THE WEATHER!!!!!!!!!!! OOOOH poor Mother Nature - she gets the blame for just about everything these days :(</p>

<p>Blame it on a nasty rainy day in the nor'east!!! - gee but why did it take soooooooooo long when they new in December!!!!!!! I certainly hope alot of these kids can gain some benefit from this snafoooooooo.</p>

47

<p>don't forget that errors go both ways. According to an article in the Post, 30 students had their scores inflated by 100-130 points! That could be the difference in awarding scholarships to someone who might not have been as deserving ...yet, CB is NOT gonna inform those kids nor schools.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/09/AR2006030902169.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/09/AR2006030902169.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

48

<p>Has anyone ever seen a piece of paper that changed size because it was damp?</p>

<p>If the effect is too small to see it seems that we at least need more details.</p>

49

<p>Does this exact number mean that CollegeBoard reexamined and hand-scored every single SAT test out of 400,000 from October 2005? </p>

<p>Or they just examined the wetness of SAT sheets and hand-scored only the wet ones?</p>

<p>Or they performed, let say, a retesting on a sample of SAT tests from several regions? </p>

<p>No trust in CollegeBoard whatsoever!!!!!!</p>

<p>I believe that they should take a digital picture of every test and send them (or originals) to every October test taker to remove all doubts about their procedures and ensure that the rest of tests were scored correctly.</p>

50

<p>
[quote]
don't forget that errors go both ways. According to an article in the Post, 30 students had their scores inflated by 100-130 points! That could be the difference in awarding scholarships to someone who might not have been as deserving ...yet, CB is NOT gonna inform those kids nor schools.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I am not sure, because CB is providing as little information as possible, but if the scoring mistake was that entire section(s) were scored as if all answers were omitted, then the mistake would produce a higher reported score only if the actual answers were really bad. If a tester selected mostly wrong answers, then that person would get a boost in reported score if his wrong answers were incorrectly scored as omitted. So we are probably talking about somebody getting a reported score of 980 instead of 950 (out of 1600). Doubtful it would make a difference in scholarships, but I still think CB should correct ALL the scores. It really shouldn't be College Board's decision to make. They are supposed to provide accurate testing of students to colleges. How arrogant of them to decide that they will not provide corrected scores for students who were given a boost by their mistake.</p>

51

<p>I worked the 2004 election, and the moisture in the air caused the machine at our poll to jam and miscount. It was horrible. I was at the polling place for 23 hours, they had to bring us a new machine, it was HELL. So I completely buy the humidity thing. LOL</p>

52

<p>The corrections HAVE BEEN reported to colleges - high schools and to the tested students - and has made a difference for some - some have actually been accepted where they had not been prior to the corrected scores - for others it has actually meant qualifying for more merit aid - so - yes- it has made a difference for some - tho not for all.</p>

<p>On THE day that UMASS was preparing to send out the acceptance letters - the admissions office received a ''13'' page report of corrected scores!!! Several other schools in the nor'east have also had to re-evaluat the admissions of students - so - yes - things are now rolling for many. The CB is also refunding the fees to many also.</p>

<p>I am sure the CB is going to be investigated by some organization/agency - they should be - the company that has been contracted to manage the scoring REALLY screwed up - big time!!!</p>

53

<p>I think NJRes meant that scores that went down should now be reported accurately, in addition to the scores that went up. CB has stated that they will not notify the students or schools of any scores that went down after the rescoring.</p>

<p>IMO, these students, as innocent victims in all of this, would be irreparably harmed by such a correction. Most of them used the scores as reported as a major factor in compiling the list of colleges to which they would apply! There's no way to get that chance back for these kids now. That's why these scores (and CB <em>claims</em> there were only a small number of these) should stand, as unfair as that may sound.</p>

54

<p>Agree with Roshke. Especially if some kids got in EA or ED and did not fill out any other applications..,</p>

<p>By the same token, though, some kids whose scores went down by as much as 400 points probably decided against applying to colleges where they might have gotten in easily. Nothing can make up for those opportunities--certainly not the pitiful refund CB is sending.</p>

<p>I don't know why CB switched from ETS to Pearson. Pearson is known to have frequent scoring errors.</p>

55

<p>I think the fact that CB was aware of this snafuu in DECEMBER and did nothing is unconchinable - oops << spelling..................... it took 2 students to discover this mess - yet nothing was done for a looooong time - CB has a responsibility to every single student/parent and needs to be held accountable - for a non-profit - they certainly make alot of $$ being the only source other than the ACT for college admisison testing.</p>

<p>I will make bets that a law suit is in the works on this .............................. or will be very soon ............................ uummmm</p>

56

<p>Sorry, but 20 points more on that October SAT would have given my daughter possible acceptance into a scholars program. She missed the cutoff by 20 points...and the award is SAT score driven. Those who believe that 20 points more on the SAT doesn't make a difference are WRONG. She would LOVE to have just 20 points...</p>

57

<p>An article in this morning's paper here in CT says that approximately 240 students who took the test here in CT were affected. What concerns me is that the "pockets of errors" are being expanded and identified more specifically daily. How many more areas will be identified???</p>

58

<p>From Herald Sun:
<a href="http://www.herald-sun.com/firstnews/37-710838.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.herald-sun.com/firstnews/37-710838.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>"In a statement, Pearson said the company was working on new software to look for evidence paper has expanded and in the future would allow answer sheets more time to acclimate. </p>

<p>Pearson has been blamed for problems in scoring state education tests in recent years. </p>

<p>Last year, it incorrectly scored online versions of Virginia's high school exit exam and told 60 students they had failed when they had actually passed. The company offered $5,000 scholarships to five students who were blocked from graduating. </p>

<p>In 2000, a Pearson scoring error caused 8,000 Minnesota students to flunk and kept 50 seniors from graduating. The company offered $7 million to wronged students in a mass settlement. "</p>

<p>My concern- how does "expanding paper" randomly effect tests in CT, NJ, and others reported around the country?</p>

<p>And, the company rescanned 495,000 tests after it was alerted to the problem (which begs the question how many other incorrect scores went undetected)
But, how do you RESCAN the faded, "expanded" tests LOL.</p>

<p>Ironic moment- am reading 'The World is Flat' - about how America is pitifully far behind the technological advances in other countries, and a company like this uses "moisture" as a reason for mistakes on something so important to students futures and lives!!!!!</p>

<p>If Collegeboard can easily dismiss 100 points on tests as insignificant CC mods should invite Collegeboard to log onto to CC and chat with some parents and students. Guess they don't realize even 20 pts can sometimes make a difference -as Thumper 1 stated.</p>

<p>Reminds me of "hanging chads" another technological mess.</p>

59

<p>My son was accepted EA to Boston College, and has since been busy filling out scholarships on a daily basis. Our EFC is $32,000 and we simply do not the $$. I am angry and share in his frustrattion as his SAT went from 1290 to 1330, most od the deadlines on the scholarships were in February and we will never know if the error in the score will have had an effect on some of the awards. We are praying that BC offers some financial aid, it has been his dream school since 9th grade when we first visited.</p>

60

<p>I can't explain it either, but we found that a new machine read the ballots better than the first one we had. I assume, also, when it comes to the SATs, that the humidity may have been different on the day they were rescanned. Paper doesn't just gain moisture--it can give it back too.</p>

<p>This was a really bad thing--but I think the sneering doubts about the role moisture has played are perhaps misplaced. I mean, it's an embarrassingly simple glitch, and not a very satisfactory "excuse" if they are using it as such (for example, why wouldn't you do additional verification on days when the humidity readings are high?) but I don't find it unbelievable.</p>