Law concerning School reporting SAT scores on HS Transcript

Parent Cafe
21

<p>If you look at this from the point of view of the college, they want to report that their applicants have the highest scores, so it's possible they won't consider the SATs reported on the h.s. transcript both because they're not official AND they usually prefer to report the highest scores (to make themselves look better, too). I remember many schools back when my s. applied that would 'choose' your best SAT II scores - or substitute a higher SAT II writing for the SAT I verbal (back before the test changed). Remember that they have a vested interest in making your d. look her best, too. </p>

<p>Re: a policy change in your district that has SATs reported on the h.s. transcript. I would attend a public school board meeting and ask that question. In our district, you would either get a response if someone knew, or more likely you'd be moving the superintendent and board to reevaluate the practice. It can be done very innocuously - simply asking the question and bringing up how you think it makes your child's choice of which test to submit to colleges not a genuine choice anymore. (Does your school report ACT tests on transcripts also?) </p>

<p>I also wonder how CB feels about it, since they hold the legal rights to the test and are the only official source of scores.</p>

22

<p>We are undergoing the same battle with my daughter's school and I'm very interested in all these responses.</p>

23

<p>A large number of colleges consider the scores official, if reported on the HS transcript, especially because most kids send their scores to their HS. Public schools in the area do this. </p>

<p>Applicants have the OPTION not to have the score report sent to the HS, but most do it anyway.</p>

<p>Isn't reporting it to the HS, then getting upset about (after getting a lower score than expected) a little bit like gaming the system? </p>

<p>Perhaps I don't understand the issue, since it is a SIMPLE matter of not sending test scores to HS, and a more DIFFICULT one to go through the process to get the scores off the academic record after the fact or looking to the courts?</p>

<p>Perhaps, more attention should have been paid to the issue BEFORE registering for the SAT, since it does talk about not reporting scores to HS. And, if you speak with many colleges, they do consider score reports on the HS transcript official. The failure to put two and two together does rest on parents and kids--schools are not in the position to parent.</p>

<p>PS--in the early 1990's you did not have score choice, at least according to my cousins and family friends. All scores were reported. Were they at a disadvantage, especially since SAT scores have since been rescaled upwards of 50-100 points (in the 1990's) and score reporting became a choice? Why try to manipulate scores? It is what it is.</p>

<p>It's like historical revisionism, where current practices dictate how people view the past. Appearance is/becomes important because we don't like the reality....especially since most schools take the highest scores. </p>

<p>What is the issue then, really? It's not about who the scores belong to or legality. It's about throwing out things that can be percieved to make a kid look bad during admissions. About kids not looking perfect.</p>

24

<p>You don't check a box that says "You can send my scores to my high school". When you register, CollegeBoard and ACT both ask you for your school information, and most kids give it to them because they either think it's necessary to register or they figure why not? Most kids don't even know that their high schools might send all of their scores to the colleges, especially when it's the first time registering. And you can't go back and change it later.</p>

<p>So no, it's not like gaming the system. It's having the right to send what you decide to send.</p>

25

<p>"...especially since most schools take the highest scores."</p>

<p>Should have read:</p>

<p>Interesting, especially since most schools take the highest scores.</p>

26

<p>So you let them check the box, then get upset about?</p>

<p>Why not talk to the kid before it is an issue, if it is so important?</p>

<p>PS--My parents did talk to me about sending the scores, and I asked my school counselor when I registered for the various tests. Why is it so much to ask of other parents?</p>

27

<p>You do give them school info, but you still don't have to check the box to have it sent to the HS.</p>

<p>And ensuring that a college does not see certain scores, even as they take the higher ones, is an admissions tactic...just read all the college books out there. Because it is an ACCEPTED practice does not make it okay or take away from the fact that the purpose is to GAME the admissions system. I understand it happens. </p>

<p>It doesn't mean it's a savory practice, especially since the scores were sent to the HS, which made it a part of the academic record. It's okay to bemoan the fact, but to think that the school should be held responsible is a little odd, since both the parents and the student should have understood the instructions, or if they needed clarification, ask for help.</p>

<p>PS--maybe I expect too much of parents, but they should be aware of what their child is doing, after all they are responsible until the child turns 18.</p>

28

<p>even IF she missed some form whe she took the test, she is asking NOW for them not to be sent, and the school needs to honor that request even if scores at school</p>

<p>the rest is irrelelvant- if she doens't wnat them sent, it is her right -and I bet you the school knows it</p>

29

<p>Actually, my school does not. It is policy that scores sent to the HS become a part of the academic record. </p>

<p>You can ask the colleges to only consider certain scores, but I bet few trust that the colleges will do so, so they blame the HS.</p>

<p>The kid is probably a minor, so the parents do have legal recourse. The point is the "why". The parents can make a big deal about it, but it teaches us that we can wiggle out of anything, that there are no consequences for decisions we make, bad or good, especially since our parents will step in.</p>

<p>We can rely on revisionism, if we don't like parts of our history. Great lesson.</p>

30

<p>
[quote]
PS--in the early 1990's you did not have score choice, at least according to my cousins and family friends. All scores were reported. Were they at a disadvantage, . . . and score reporting became a choice?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>This is in fact exactly backwards (although I'm not sure exactly when the change occurred). There used to be score choice on the SATs; now there is not. All SAT I & II scores are sent, regardless of anything else. Only the ACT still allows score choice.</p>

31

<p>The SAT changed back to the older policy recently, within the last few years.</p>

32

<p>From the collegeboard.com website, about 2 minutes ago:

[quote]
Important notes:
We send a cumulative report of all scores that are available and reportable at the time your request is received. You cannot send only your latest or highest SAT scores, or separate scores for critical reading, mathematics, or writing sections, or only SAT, or only Subject Test scores.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>If they changed back to the older policy, they haven't told anyone.</p>

33

<p>IsleBoy, if you attended a top-five prep, and were therefore guaranteed intensive, personalized, professional college guidance counseling, is it not a little disingenuous of you to criticize choices made by kids in schools with a 1,000:1 student:GC ratio? Preppies have their hands held throughout the process, and that's one of the benefits parents are paying for. You are sooooo entitled.</p>

34

<p>Chedva or anyone....:</p>

<p>When Collegeboard sends all scores (SAT I & SAT II), are they also sending AP Scores?????</p>

35

<p>No, you have to order those separately</p>

36

<p>Isle, your remarks become less credible because on the one hand, you are saying the student should KNOW not to fill out the name of their high school on the CollegeBoard forms, yet you don't even seem to be aware that there is NO score choice with SAT scores and all scores are sent, not just best scores or chosen scores or most recent sitting etc. So, even you are not entirely informed about all the ins and outs of standardized test score reporting. </p>

<p>I'm sure my kids filled out the name of their HS on the forms as a matter of course. I have noticed that the test scores do appear on the back of their HS transcript. In my kids' cases, it didn't matter because those same scores were going to be sent by the CollegeBoard and they did not take the ACT. However, the school should honor their request to not send them to colleges as that is the student's choice whether to submit SAT scores or not. </p>

<p>I recall one request we made, that I just remembered. My kids had taken the SATs in seventh and eighth grades for the Johns Hopkins Talent Search and these scores were also on the back of their transcripts. Even the JHU Talent Search talks about the scores not being for college admissions or not counting (they don't) from middle school. When they entered that contest, they surely didn't plan on having those SAT scores at age 12 or 13 sent to colleges. When we saw them on the transcript (my kids were one of the only kids at their school to enter the JHU search), we asked that they be taken off for the application submission to colleges and it was no problem. Those scores were never meant to be for college admissions. Likewise, the OP deserves the right to only send the ACT scores. It is the applicant's choice as to which standardized scores to send to colleges, ACT or SAT. With the SATs, of course, all scores are sent, not just selected ones. It is not up to the HS to decide which to submit.</p>

<p>I look forward to hearing how the OP made out at school today. Hopefully he also brought up that when his older D went to HS, they did not include SAT scores on the transcript.</p>

37

<p>Isleboy:</p>

<p>Methinks you got it backward. Since when are national, standardized tests meant to be part of a student's "academic record." Perhaps a case could be made to put the state-mandated testing results on the academic record, but its hard to fathom when and how the SAT or ACT scores become part of a high school transript. Moreover, in the days of extremely tight educational budgets, not one administrator can rationalize why s/he should authorize an expenditure of funds to copy the test scores to the transcript. This is just a silly waste of time and money, which could be better spent elsewhere. Your sn indicates NW -- check out the Seattle school's budget....</p>

<p>The only rational arguement to add the test scores to a HS transcript is that is a service for families, saving them some $$ from having to pay CB to send official scores. However, if it is a service, a family should be able to reject it, IMO.</p>

38

<p>THERE IS NO BOX TO CHECK! That's the whole point! Most kids fill out the school information with no idea that their info may be stuck on their transcript because of it.</p>

<p>It is the student's responsiblility to report the scores, NOT the high school's.</p>

39

<p>alll the school needs to do is have a form you fill out saying you do NOT want scores sent in....simple</p>

40

<p>"checking th box", "crossing all the t's", it is a figure of speech...</p>

<p>As for attacking me because I go to a prep school, and have my hand held...well. Even at good schools, you sometimes do not get the right information.</p>

<p>My parents were thousands of miles away and I still talked to them about having the scores sent or not.</p>

<p>If you looked at my post, I did not specify I and/or II when refering to the SAT. So, even if it has been a couple of years, I'm aware that the SAT I is DIFFERENT than the SAT II. If you send subject tests, they'll see the SAT scores, just like when you take the SAT I.</p>

<p>I notice that instead of discussing the ambiguity about the Collegeboard and WHO is ultimately resonsible, some have chosen to tell me I should "be quiet" since I attended a prep school, and because I did not specify about whether I was speaking of the SAT I or II, never mind no one asked for clarification, and for my use of a common term.</p>

<p>Color me surprized. If you don't agree with what I say, you could refrain from attacking my school or tell me "your remarks become less credible because on the one hand you are saying the student should KNOW not to fill out the name of their high school on the CollegeBoard forms, yet you don't even seem to be aware that there is NO score choice with SAT scores and all scores are sent, not just best scores or chosen scores or most recent sitting etc. So, even you are not entirely informed about all the ins and outs of standardized test score reporting." </p>

<p>It can be an effective debate tactic, but is not always a good way to promote an open discussion...now is it?</p>

<p>Again, where exactly did I specify that I was speaking of the SAT I & II? And even Chedva conceeds that the SATs used to have score choice a while back (several years, I believe). How is that uninformed? Perhaps, the tactic is to attack the one who has an unpopular opinion...woww.</p>

<p>As for scores on a HS transcript, it's part of the academic record, as scores can be part of them depending on the individual schools policies. It's the parents and students responsibility to be aware of their schools policy on the issue. If it's not the kids fault, not the parents fault, then it's ALL the schools fault...never mind that public school systems lack money, as it was pointed out in another post.</p>

<p>Why not spread some of the blame to the one who filled out the registration, or the one who is responsible for the kid until they are 18, or spread some to the Collegeboard, or to the colleges that use the scores from a HS transcript, rather than blame an already embattled HS school system? As Someone who dressed me down about being ignorant about when the change happend, why don't you dress down those who do not check the forms their kids sign, or discuss colleges practice of identifying HS school transcripts as "official", even as it helps those who are less affluent apply to more than a few schools--since there are limited waivers???</p>

<p>Perhaps it's because being RESPONSIBLE for a teenagers actions does not extend to BEFORE the commitment of the act. Rather than look at the forms before it's sent in, make a big stink after the scores are recieved?</p>

<p>Shouldn't parents (and kids) find out what HS policies affect them BEFORE they register? </p>

<p>National test, including the Stanford achievement tests, and others, are part of the academic record.</p>

<p>Even if scores belong to the students, if they have it as part of their academic record, then it is the HS responsibility as well to report it, seeing as applicants tweak their ECs, etc...to LOOK better to adcoms. It's competitive, so why not recognize that fact, instead of turning it into another "sombody done sombody wrong song...?"</p>

<p>I'd agree that it's a legal argument unambiguiously, if these discussions would take place before scores have been reported. Usually, the topic rears its ugly head AFTER people know thier scores and do not want it to be part of the picture they draw for the adcoms. No moral ambiguity there. Right.</p>