<p>Lot of interesting speculation, but not any proof. If there are cases of gaming the system out there, where are they? </p>
<p>Are there any kids that suddenly seem to have learning disabilities in high school according to the testing, get placed into special ed and get certain accommodations at their schools, successfully get those same accommodations from College Board, and then score in the 2350 range? I haven't heard of any and assess the probability as remote.</p>
<p>It isn't a question of taking a particular test and going into the College Board with the results and automatically getting accommodations. Good luck getting accommodations if the high school doesn't give them and particularly if grades have been high. Good luck getting them at the high school if they've never been needed in the past and putting a kid into the special ed system costs them money. My experience with a special ed advocacy group and reading about the efforts of those in other jurisdictions -- schools are very resistant; kids getting C's are frequently said not to be entitled to any help. Academic superstars simply aren't going to get anything. Plus how many of those in the 2200 range suddenly decide they wouldn't mind being suddenly thrust into special ed, which people would certainly know due to nonstandard testing and the like? Being in special ed would also be something that could well be disclosed in recommendations and the counselor's report; it couldn't be effectively hidden. It would seem more advantageous to simply prep for the tests a bit more -- and those who want to cheat will try to find some other way.</p>
<p>I find those charts interesting myself. The numbers getting accommodations are quite modest and the average scores are way, way below 2350.</p>
<p>I don't put it beyond people to cheat. I just find the other ways of cheating (where actual people sometimes get caught and the matter shows up in the press) to be far more realistic and credible.</p>
<p>Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it folks like the Hoover Institute that don't like special education to begin with and don't believe in learning disabilities at all? It seems like all this speculation of unfair advantage comes from those that would like to junk IDEA. I can agree with mislabeling and overdiagnosis, but not that real problems don't exist. One can simply look back to the way things were prior to the equal protection cases that prompted the original law to see the sad state of affairs when kids didn't get the help they needed.</p>