It is not an outlier. They are 100% corrupt. Their day will come!
how do I see your email? I’m new to this site.
@farmgal5 @ktrrights I was wondering the same thing about sending a PM, and I just found this thread from an administrator that was posted last week:
“Guys, we’ve recently reintroduced a requirement so that one is able to send Private Messages (PMs) only after reaching Junior Member (this means that New Members are no longer able to PM). This is a much needed measure as the forums have been targeted with a lot of spam PMs in recent weeks. In order to become a Junior Member one needs 15 posts. Thanks!”
@ktrrights I was reading this article https://www.reuters.com/article/us-college-security-act-exclusive/exclusive-act-shakes-up-security-unit-plans-audit-after-cheating-reports-idUSKCN10L175 and afterward looked up some of the people mentioned. It lead me to articles about lawsuits filed by or involving some of these people. One test security department employee sued ACT for wrongful termination after she went to HR to report abuse and harassment by someone mentioned in the Reuters article and was fired. The test security dept employee says she was told by the dept director to “drink the Kool-Aid” (which typically means to get on board and go along with something - policies / procedures / practices even if you don’t agree with it)… Here is a link to one of the articles I found http://www.thegazette.com/2012/09/10/two-former-act-employees-sue-company
@ktrrights Another great article from 2016: Illinois moves ahead with new testing plan, replacing ACT with SAT http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-illinois-chooses-sat-met-20160211-story.html
From the article: “A panel of educators and other officials reviewed and scored the sealed proposals, and SAT won. The evaluators’ scores prompted ACT’s protest on a number of issues. Among the concerns, “at least one evaluator appeared to be biased,” ACT’s Colby said. “What we don’t know is the degree to which this evaluator might have influenced the others.” A Feb. 9 letter from the state’s Chief Procurement Office noted that ACT’s concerns about inconsistent scoring “are well-taken,” and that one evaluator’s scores were lower than all the others. Even if those low scores were stricken, however, the College Board’s proposal still would win, according to the letter. The officials who reviewed ACT’s appeal tested a number of scenarios to see whether that outcome would change, but it did not. The College Board was the winner, a decision that is now considered final under procurement rules.”
Hmm… I wonder why one of the evaluators on the panel of educators might have been “biased” against ACT? Perhaps their own family member, former student, family friend, or someone else they knew well, had a negative experience in dealing with ACT… maybe something similar to our experiences?
Thank you for this! Very interesting.
Does anyone know if the test for each room are the same?
I cannot confirm this.
This thread is so interesting. Has anyone reached out to a major news paper or journal? NY Times, or Time magazine, 60 minutes or similar? Or maybe conatct some internet-based news outlets like Buzzfeed. They are always looking for juicy stories that show how insane the college process has become. I am so sorry for all of you going through this. I am a test prep tutor and I have actually mentioned to a couple of parents, whose children seem likely to improve a lot, to be sure to save all documenting evidence in case their child is accused of cheating. ThiSee stories convinced me that my own child should only take the ACT once, if at all possible. Thanks for sharing. Best of luck to all of you.
@lindagaf from the above stories, I don’t think any evidence really helps at all. It seems that those that have “evidence” are shut down. My take is that do not take the real test until you have taken many many practice tests and think that is the best you can do. Then you have one test score.
@LvMyKids2 Yes, you are right! I sent in a mountain of evidence - an actual 1.5 inch thick binder of documents - urgent care and pediatrician medical records showing illness at the first test (the school administered test that we did not schedule, pay for, or study for but were forced to sit for), as well as SAT test scores taken before the ACT that were equivalent to the score in question (College Board publishes a concordance table), GPA / transcript / honors and AP courses, proof of substantial tutoring, practice, and test prep after the first test, multiple letters from school personnel and tutor, and much more. We had actual proof to explain why the first score was low, and corroborating test scores and grades to show that the second score was in alignment with previously demonstrated skills and abilities and earned fairly. Their entire “evidence” consists of statistical analysis that they create themselves by culling and cherry-picking their data.
I find it incredibly telling that out of all the people who have posted here, and all the people who have been in contact off of this forum, who have pursued the appeal process exactly 0%, ZERO, NONE, NOT ONE of us have had our score validated through the appeal process! Offering the appeal is clearly just a “formality.” They already have the form letter response denying your appeal waiting in the system.
Food for thought:
7 Ways to Lie With Statistics and Get Away With It
https://www.fastcompany.com/1822354/7-ways-lie-statistics-and-get-away-it
Numbers Can Mislead
https://paw.princeton.edu/article/numbers-can-mislead
The Dark Art of Statistical Deception
https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/29/the-dark-art-of-statistical-deception/
Mathematics: Deception by Numbers
https://www.nature.com/articles/4671043a
85% of Statistics are False or Misleading
http://scienceblogs.com/worldsciencefestival/2010/08/05/85-of-statistics-are-false-or/
@SLM413 Did you go through arbitration? How long did that take?
@farmgal5 We just received our appeal decision letter and have not yet decided what option we will pursue. I believe Catherine @ktrrights did go through arbitration and may be able to give you more information.
NICE! Thank you. This is helpful!
Okay…so I posted in February regarding filing our appeal to ACT for my daughter’s score. The appeal, of course, was denied as I thought it would be in reading other’s posts. We submitted the appeal on 2/24/2018 and received the same “canned” letter denying the appeal on April 8th. ACT had almost 6 weeks to come up with the “canned” denied appeal letter and I now have 10 days to determine whether to drop the scores, retake or go through arbitration. This whole process has made my whole family sick. Very depressing to have to go through this at the end of her Senior year with scholarships, etc. in the mix. Has anyone actually went back to the colleges and tried to explain what ACT has done regarding the test scores and the information that has went through this forum? I’m sure once I sign the appeal to have them go ahead and drop the test scores it will be a week turnaround since that was the ultimate goal of ACT. I don’t have the fight or $$$$ to take this to arbitration and I am so angered by this system I’m not sure what good I would do at this point. The argument of the ACT is based solely on statistics and analytical data. We had requested additional information in the initial appeal and received the bogus seating chart and the canned letter we received back didn’t address that fact nor did it address the fact that the test proctor was to verify the test booklets, seating chart and several other things by placing a checkmark in the fields. All fields were blank. Of course, that fact was never discussed. I just want someone to LISTEN to these facts and hear what all the parents trying to defend these kids are saying. Such a sad situation for children wanting to go to college to better the world and we (actually ACT) are tearing down the beliefs of what is right before they even make it through the college doors. I honestly believe nobody EVER wins the appeals or arbitration. I feel like I should change my username to DEFEATED. Thanks everyone for your comments. I hope I am around one day to see this corrupted system challenged by a higher power.
Has anyone tried contacting a media outlet about this issue?
Yes, but it will take an army not just 1 person.
Most likely you will lose arbitration but I would still try. We did not contact the university. By the time arbitration was over my daughter completed and passed her first term. We have not heard from them as of yet. Go to the media and read though my blog. There is a lot of information. Feel free to reach out to me by email.
The problem with going to arbitration is that I read the “canned” letter to read if we lost that we would be responsible to possibly pay the ACT fees to their arbitrator or council. I’m not sure what further information I could give them that I haven’t already. They refused to address the incorrect seating chart and the fact that the test proctor didn’t complete the checklist or check off anything. When you are saying you haven’t heard from “them” are you speaking of the university? So…am I correct to say that the only $$$ you had invested in the arbitration was the $200? Did you win the arbitration?