<p>@CesarC
You wrote, “At some elite prep schools 30% of the students get extra time on the SAT and school tests.”</p>
<p>Can you cite your source for this please?</p>
<p>Happykidsmom- I thought accommodations allowing verbal responses were allowed. This is from College Board under a section on types of accommodations:</p>
<p>Responding
Verbal; dictated to scribe
Tape recorder
Computer without spell-check/grammar/cut-and-paste features
Record answers in test booklet
Large-block answer sheet</p>
<p>Here are some startling facts, all pointing to a vast increase in “disabilities” over the last 30 years. We have gone from almost zero disabilities in 1988 (.6%) to 2.3% in 2004 to 10% in 2006. Here are some cites of that information. At what point does everyone not have some sort of testing disability? Statistically, it would seem that the worst disabilities would belong to those unlikely to have a parent who even knows about these benefits.</p>
<p><a href=“Does Loophole Give Rich Kids More Time on SAT? - ABC News”>http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/loophole-give-rich-kids-time-sat/story?id=1787712</a>
<a href=“More Students Receiving Accommodations During ACT, SAT”>http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/speced/2012/05/more_students_receiving_accomm.html</a>
<a href=“Extended Time and other Accommodations on the SAT and ACT – Experts Corner | Applerouth”>Page not found – Experts Corner | Applerouth;
<p>I suggest that OP start a blog.</p>
<p>I don’t want a blog. I want to hear from other parents who have concerns about whether the skyrocketing number of LD diagnoses is going to leave their child behind if they too don’t go and get one. There is an extremely finite number of places at elite colleges and if that is a goal as it is for many here, will the fact that your child’s classmate is getting twice as much time to take the SAT, while seemingly very very able to take the test compared to the rest of the nation, unfairly hurt your own child’s chances?</p>
<p>I have a master’s degree in nursing and when I was earning it worked as adjunct faculty in a BSN nursing program. The number of students I had with accomodations floored me. My thought was that if a student needed extra time, or had to be in a silent environment to take a test what would they do in a code situation? I wonder in retrospect if learners who need these accomodations gravitate to fields where they could continue to use them. Any one know?</p>
<p>No one is trying to discredit people with LDs. Less than 1% of the population has an IQ over 135. That’s a very wonderful gift to be handed out upon birth. Even more wonderful would be to have a parent who will take the time and money to figure out why their very smart child isn’t making straight As, and then getting the help needed to improve the grades. Add onto to that already fortunate situation twice the time on the SAT, and I see the lower IQ kid looking very unfortunate compared to that child. Perhaps the answer is just giving out IQ tests to people if even people with LDs can do great on those. </p>
<p>I’m not worried about anyone “taking” my kid’s spot. They will succeed on their own terms. And I have compassion for those who struggle with LD. I also have compassion for kids I’ve seen whose parents insist their kids are academically talented when the kids just aren’t. There’s a general perception at many private schools that just because parents are motivated and have the resources to enroll the kids, these kids are all going to turn out to be top academic prospects. I’ve seen parents of kids who just aren’t great students shop around for a diagnosis to get extra time. They then push these kids into Honors and AP classes. Some of these kids have no life other than homework because they just aren’t able to handle the workload, especially in AP where the reading/writing assignments are intense. I’ve known some of these kids who are more artistically inclined - one wanted to get into film editing, but the parents wanted Junior to be an engineer or a doctor. Some of these kids have no friends, because they’ve not had time and also because they’ve not been allowed to find their peer group. Once upon a time it would have been written off as left-brain thinkers vs. right-brain thinkers. Today there is the mindset among many that an elite college education is the only path to success and students have to be straight-A in every subject.</p>
<p>I would like to see every kid allowed to find their strength rather than see these poor kids whose parents feel there’s only one way to succeed in life, and they don’t know what to do when they have a kid that doesn’t fit that mold. </p>
<p>I’m intellectually honest, so I wlll acknowledge that you did cite a statistic that is, if true, troubling. However, you can’t just cherry-pick data from this article. Here is the link that I read (furnished by the OP). </p>
<p><a href=“Does Loophole Give Rich Kids More Time on SAT? - ABC News”>http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/loophole-give-rich-kids-time-sat/story?id=1787712</a>
If this article is correct, that means maybe there is some abuse that I was not aware of. However that SAME article (it is a good article, by the way):</p>
<p>“The College Board notes that there has NOT been an increase in the number of students receiving special accommodations (emphasis added).” </p>
<p>“The College Board said students without learning disabilities did NOT show any marked improvement in scores when given extra time (emphasis added).”</p>
<p>I’ll accept your evidence if you accept your evidence.</p>
<p>I don’t think asking about LD accommodations at the elite level discredits those with LDs. Rather, I think that giving students who can get into an Ivy League based on four years of stellar grades and top 2% SAT scores extra time on all tests is difficult to fathom. I imagine that if we sat down with every single child in some underperforming school districts we would unearth many, many LDs. But according to research, these LD accommodations are disproportionately being given to wealthy students.</p>
<p>I’ll accept your evidence if the college board then offers all those kids extra time, even if their scores stay the same. Why wouldn’t they?</p>
<p>I would like the tests to change so that they will reflect MORE students reaching their full potential…whether they have a documented LD or not isn’t my point. So if that means scribes, verbal answers, unlimited time–whatever it takes for a test to evaluate a students innate ability. </p>
<p>It seems though that the OP is threatened by others doing better with accommodations. And would rather keep others less competitive so they don’t threaten to take a coveted spot in a highly ranked school away from him. </p>
<p>The truth is that OP’s child might not do better with extended time even if it was given, since the test might be showing his child’s potential already. In my D’s particular case extra time would have most likely raised her math score. Her verbal at 720/ 35 most likely would not have changed. </p>
<p>Now D was the only child from her elementary school to make it into our districts gifted program in 1st grade on the basis of IQ testing. D was uninterested in pursuing the ivies and her 610 math would have prevented her from getting in. But if another 20 minutes on the test could have raised her score higher… does the OP really have an issue with that?</p>
<p>Overall I’m happy to see that schools are re-evaluating the importance of these tests. Does the OP take issue with a more holistic approach too?</p>
<p>@CesarC – “I’ll accept your evidence if the college board then offers all those kids extra time, even if their scores stay the same. Why wouldn’t they?”</p>
<p>It is not MY evidence, it is your article. I did not ignore disconfirming evidence just because I didn’t like what it said. I’m going to hold you to the same standard. Is this article you gave me a valid source of evidence or not? If not, then I guess we can’t use it to confirm your argument either.</p>
<p>Since we’re talking about tests, I’ll format it this way:
True or False: The ABC News piece is a valid source for this debate</p>
<p>I think, for the most part, letting people figure out what they were good at without changing the playing field (which was the case when I was in school) worked very well. I don’t think any of my kids could ever get into an Ivy, so I am not threatened by the system where parents get their kids extra time on the SAT when they are already making perfect grades and excellent test scores. Where I see this going, however, is that as more and more people get extra time both at school and on the SAT/ACT, the playing field is not level for anyone. When less than 1% of people are getting help, fair enough. When it goes to 10%, or more, that affects everyone who wants to get into any college with a lower acceptance rate.</p>
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<p>Why is it that you only consider a kid who is performing below average of their peers to “need help”? A student may be very bright and overcome some of the consequences of their disability through sheer horsepower – that does not mean they don’t struggle with some things, though. And what about the student who was diagnosed early? Say, 2nd grade, with an LD? Do you begrudge those students accommodations, or just those that got them late in high school that you see as “gaming” the system somehow? You may not be aware, but it is quite difficult to get extra time on standardized tests if the student was only diagnosed later in high school. Yet many students are not tested for disabilities until they hit the wall of high school work and organization, and the methods they have been using to cover & skate by in earlier years no longer work for them.</p>
<p>@CesarC A simple True or False would suffice</p>
<p>We are talking about whether everyone should get extra time if, as the LD community repeatedly states, the extra time wouldn’t help non-LD students. I get why they are saying that. But if that is the case, then let’s give everyone extra time. True. The ABC news source is one place a person can find information about LDs. There are many others.</p>
<p>Why is it that you only consider a kid who is performing below average of their peers to “need help”</p>
<p>Because a disability means you have a problem that significantly negatively impacts your life and limits your ability to do at least one thing normally. If a disability becomes that “I am a slower runner than you,” then we are all disabled.</p>
<p>What do you say to a kid who gets into one of these colleges, and performs perfectly well when they get there? And real life isn’t a series of timed tests – my workplace is a lot more about quality than quantity, as are many others. I actually agree that there is nothing wrong with giving everyone more time. Maybe you should take your case up with the College Board. </p>
<p>I also wonder how these accommodations work in the real world. In the legal profession, reading, writing and speaking quickly are often very important skills. Yet we have numerous people getting extra time on the LSAT. I know they will not get extra time in the courtroom or the law firm…</p>