<p>Valerie</a> Frankel: Damn You, College Board!</p>
<p>A huge bummer for the kids involved.</p>
<p>Have seen other reports about this. Frankel’s article is particularly well written - perhaps because she’s a parent of one of the kids who now has to retest. Her take on the College Board folks? They don’t “give a ****.” So true.</p>
<p>The fact that the auditor was there and could have told them to move the chairs a bit before the kids took the test especially irks me.</p>
<p>This happened with three AP tests at my school last year. It cost the district thousands to retest everyone, and the kids were pretty annoyed.</p>
<p>The reaction is over the top. So the kids have to take the test again? BFD. A minor annoyance. A wise parent would make it a teachable moment instead of going into high dudgeon mode and making a fool of themselves.</p>
<p>This doesn’t begin to compare with the issues that come up when actual cheating on the SAT is documented. If the CB needs to be over-cautious to keep the integrity of its results at a high level, so be it - we all benefit.</p>
<p>I agree with annasdad. There was a problem with a teacher being ineligible to proctor the APLAC test last year at my kids school. All the results were thrown out and they had to repeat the test. The kids were really ****ed off but I felt sorriest for the teacher. She got a lot of flack for her mistake from the parents (the teacher did not know that she couldn’t proctor and apparently the school did not either). Just one of those bad breaks sometimes life hands you. </p>
<p>Breathe in, breathe out, move on.</p>
<p>The reaction is not over the top if it’s your kid. The reaction being: “Argggh!” Who wouldnt have this reaction? It’s fine if it’s an anonymous kid, of course you wouldnt care, annasdad and Walker. I know this school. I know kids involved. No one there is saying its the end of the world, not even the author of the article. What it is IS annoying, and the College Board is being disrespectful of the students, their stress level, and their time, by not at least saying, yeah, I’m sorry, this sucks, but this is what we are doing.</p>
<p>I am amazed at the complaint that these kids have just 4 days to prepare. What, wasn’t your child all prepared just a couple of weeks ago? Come on, if these 16 and 17-year-olds were ready to take the SAT on May 5th, they are still ready to take it 2 weeks later. After all, it is supposed to be a measure of what you know and a predictor of how well you will perform during your college years.</p>
<p>Giving only four days notice of the retest is no big deal in terms of preparation, since the students should have be prepared for the SAT (whether they did any SAT specific preparation or not). But giving only four days notice may cause some students to miss the retest, or miss other events that they had carefully scheduled to avoid conflict with the original test date that was known and planned for months in advance.</p>
<p>Frankel describes the “emotional devastation,” and also how her snowflake was taking the test for the 9th time (including 6 practice exams). Snowflake (and probably others!) was well-prepped and well-practiced. Can’t muster up much sympathy that there were only 4 days to prepare, either!</p>
<p>Sorry, I think that the attitude of “oh, okay, that’s a bummer, but no one died, we’ll have to move on and just take the test again, onward and upward and let’s move on with our day” is a VERY good attitude to cultivate in life. It’s a parent’s job to also demonstrate better perspective than the writer of the article had. The kids aren’t being tortured - they are having to spend another Saturday morning in a room. Boo freaking hoo.</p>
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<p>I know exactly how my kid would react: “D–n, that s–ks! What time do I need to be there next Saturday? What’s for dinner?”</p>
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<p>If that were the only reaction, then no, it wouldn’t be over the top. However:</p>
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<p>That’s over the top. (Wait til these kids get to college and have a physics and a calculus final the same week, not to mention an English paper and a history project, if they’re “emotionally devastated” by this.)</p>
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<p>This is over the top. (It’s a nightmare only if you weren’t prepared the first time.)</p>
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<p>And she’s worried about one more time? ROFLMAO.</p>
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<p>I would much rather the CB give a s–t about the integrity of its tests than about the overheated reaction of a few mildly inconvenienced kids and their helicopter moms and dads.</p>
<p>Just because other test centers and other times that test center are not in compliance does not mean that when a random unindentified inspector catches these things, this should not happen. This sort of thing keeps test center on their toes about compliance.</p>
<p>When I went to one test center some years ago, they were waaaay out of compliance. Had I reported them, the kids would have all lost their test results and I was too selfish to do this. College board did not release what the specifics about the noncompliance othere than the desks being too close. Reading the article, one can see that there were other issues as well that CB and the school are not interested in sharing with the general public.</p>
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But they have to go all the way to Coney Island!</p>
<p>The poor things! I had to drive my daughter to a test site over an hour away! Oh, the sacrifice!</p>
<p>These are the same whiny parents who complain that it’s not faaaaaaaaaair that their little darling only made it into Tufts and Vanderbilt, and not Harvard or Stanford. Spare me.</p>
<p>I think the parents have a right to be annoyed, but with the school for not properly enforcing the seating rules. Years ago my son took the SAT for practice though the Midwest talent search. There was construction going on in another section of the HS building and the sawdust spread throughout the air in that section and caused the fire alarm to go off. Everyone was evacuated during the test. I was relieved the test was not for real for my son, but felt bad for all those kids who were taking it for real. How could that not distract you? I guess they could have re-taken, but what a pain!</p>
<p>I admit that I would be ticked. I think the teachable moment would to discuss with the kids the value of an apology and of taking responsibility. “Yes, CB handled this badly. Given their need to protect the integrity of the test, and assuming the only way was a retake, how should they have handled it? If a screw up of yours ever caused someone harm or great inconvenience, how would you handle it?”</p>
<p>Okay, first, it’s all well and good to say “no big deal” for kids who are going to do fine on the test anyway . . . but for some kids, these tests really are a big deal, and getting psyched up to take the test is a big deal. I wouldn’t wish a retest on any of them!</p>
<p>Second, College Board certainly has the means to ensure that its testing protocol is enforced. It chooses not to do that, however . . . opting instead for “selective” enforcement. Focus on training and standards before approving a high school as a testing site and this wouldn’t happen. College Board chooses not to and this is the result. I don’t blame the school (and parents) for being upset at the outcome.</p>
<p>I think it’s both fair to be ticked / annoyed / p*****d off, and to try to work towards cultivating an attitude of “at least no one died.”</p>