<p>One note on this: some colleges do not accept score choice, and want to see all scores. It would be a Bad Thing if you ignored this and used score choice, but your transcript showed that you had more scores.</p>
<p>When sending scores from collegeboard doesn’t the website default you to send all scores (even if you’ve selected score choice) if that’s the the school required format? There is a warning I believe, perhaps you can override this…I’m not sure. All my kids schools have been SC. Your point about conflicting information is valid, but I don’t think anyone was trying to suppress a score from a school that requires all scores. I believe the concern was showing all scores to a school that accepts score choice. I think the feeling was it isn’t in the students favor to show a lower score and defeats the concept on score choice. A few have pointed out that these scores on the transcript aren’t where the reader looks for official scores, that’s the collegeboard report. My guess is basic stats are fed through to a cover page or summary of sorts. Someone would have to hunt for these soft scores on a transcript…yes they may be seen but they won’t be the scores that are associated with this student for consideration when refreshing memory and giving quick stats to a peer reviewer. </p>
<p>Bottom line, I think others gave good advise to have your student not give hs info on tests. This may break the chain. I plan to do this with my raising sophomore (even given my above thoughts). Given my choice I’d rather they not be there. Yes, I can contact my representative. In all honesty it’s not on the top of my list right now.</p>
<p>My kids always left the section for the high school blank so their schools did not get the scores. For this year’s college applicant, I felt it was important as his scores were not good, and he was applying under Fairtest. The problem is that once you see the scores, it’s difficult to not take them into consideration even when you try. It’s knowledge. </p>
<p>Also, many schools do not send colleges official transcripts, but sanitized college versions of the official transcripts that may not have all information on them. I found that out with my oldest, and have subsequently learned that every school we have dealt with has done this. The SATs are on the school’s official transcripts as well as a battery of other tests and information, but that information is not put on the transcripts that the colleges get.</p>
<p>I think what VA is trying to do is to get a handle on what the SAT scores actually are for its high schools. Those numbers which have become very important in terms of real estate values and high school rankings are only what is reported. If a kid does not report his high school or the high school does not report the scores, the information is incomplete. As we sadly saw in the Georgia standardized test scandals , there is cheating in this area. It’s always a fine line when it comes down to personal rights and privacy vs public information.</p>
<p>cpt: what do you think about the issue of the scores’ ownership? I paid fees for my D to take SAT and ACT…why can a school report them?</p>
<p>I don’t know. IF you report the scores to the school, , there may be an implied consent for having them on your official transcript. I mean, really, if you give the scores to anyone, there isn’t any conditions attached as to what they can do with them. It’s not like consenting to a credit report with all of the legal limitations and privacy concerns that goes with that. You are giving the information to the college, and to the high school. The college also reports your child’s scores to a number agencies, some incognito, but in the admissions and awards process, as part of your child’s app. It’s not protected by HIPPA or any other governing body. This is just the way I look at it. I don’t know what the legal ramifications of score ownership are.</p>
<p>I’m assuming that this is the section of the law in question:</p>
<p>Test record, to include at least the highest score earned, if applicable, on college performance-related standardized tests such as SAT and ACT, excluding Standards of Learning (SOL) test scores;</p>
<p>My understanding would be that the “at least” means that just the highest scores earned are required to be sent, not all.</p>
<p>I am not from VA, but I find this whole thing bizarre. Our D took the SAT 3 times and used two of those for score choice schools. I certainly would be upset if those score choice schools saw the scores on the other exam; it defeats the purpose of score choice. I would tell my kids NOT to check their hs as others have suggested. The consequence of this, I would imagine, is that your school’s Naviance would be affected and it might be hard to gather authentic information.</p>
<p>^ Agreed jc40. If enough students take the route of leaving their hs off the test to ensure they can control the release of scores the data for Naviance will be negatively affected, lowering the quality of the resource for all students. This is a real shame. Perhaps at this point they will agree to ensure that only highest scores are sent.</p>
<p>My D graduated from a Virginia public school in 2010 and in looking at her transcript, I don’t see ACT Or SAT scores. D says she did not choose to send them to the high school. I would imagine that they still get the scores in the aggregate – at least for those who took the test at that site.</p>
<p>My oldest son graduated from a rural Virginia school in '09. His scores were on the back of his transcript. It did not seem to bother him. He pointed out that all of the colleges where he applied accepted those scores as official. Saved him a lot of money, as he did not have to contact College Board and pay each time he wanted to send them somewhere.</p>
<p>Not from Virginia, but could someone explain why you wouldn’t want to send scores to your high school? Are some colleges really looking that hard for one bad subscore or test result as a reason to say “No”? </p>
<p>My assumption was that generally they’ll look at the best scores, and that they’ll only look at scores sent directly from the test agency…although after reading Momreads comment I realize I’m wrong about that last assumption. I learn something new every time I visit CC.</p>
<p>There are a number of reasons why you may not want the scores sent to your high school. One is that there is an additional chance of error anytime information is transcribed from one source to another. Also if you have multiple scores, there can be confusion. If you are applying through Fairtest and you don’t want any scores seen, that is eliminated if they are on the transcript. Once someone sees something and knows the info, it’s impossible to predict how they process it.</p>
<p>Yes, colleges will take the highest scores when they are doing the final analysis and using the results. But really, if your kid is applying to a school where they are looking for ways to eliminate so many very talented young people all with tippy top scores, and a low SAT2 score is sitting there, it can be a reason. You just never know. </p>
<p>There is also a timing issue. Say you take the SATs and you are not happy with the score and are retaking. If you apply to a college, if the scores are not on the transcript, you can just put pending with a future date on the app, and maybe submit the ACT scores instead. If the college has the transcript, it may use the scores there until it gets the official ones. You never know what an admissions person may do.
Also if the transcript goes out and the scores are not needed for some purpose, why have them there where they can then be interpreted, if they are unfavorable?</p>
<p>Thank you, cptofthehouse, and everyone else on this thread. Glad I was blithely unaware of this possibility during the first two kids’ admission process. One more thing to consider with my third’s…</p>
<p>Eastcoascrazy, in most cases it isn’t likely to make a difference. The problem is that they can. Who needs complicating factors in an already stressful process. The other reason is that psychological nagging thought that it might have made the difference. You never know if things don’t work out whether that was a factor or not. I know some folks who are wondering right now, and this is a question I might raise in another thread.</p>
<p>My son applied to a bunch of Fairtest schools. How does that work? We simply did not send any test scores. He got into all of them with a merit package from one. Many kids who applied to the same schools with similar grades and courses did not get accepted. They all had significantly higher test scores than my son. I have been asked, and I don’t know if in Fairtest, how they don’t take the test scores into consideration. In our case, we KNOW that they did not, because they didn’t have them. But if you send them, are you in a whole other category for consideration? How can a person negate what s/he has seen? These schools do report their median test scores to ranking agencies such as college board, Princeton Review, etc. They could not report my son’s lousy scores since they did not have them but what about those who submitted them but were admitted without considering them? </p>
<p>If you are supposed to be ignoring the test scores under Fairtest, but you see kids with very similar profiles with drastically different test scores, it’s tough to ignore them.</p>