<p>Hi. I just found out over the course of the last three days that my school takes ALL of my SAT scores and puts them on my transcript, effectively making score choice unusable for me. The first time i took the SAT i scored in high 2200s. The second time i took it i scored 2400. I really really really want to only show the 2400. I've requested that my school either remove all my scores from my transcript, or just remove my bad scores, but the administration refuses to listen to me. It says on collegeboard's site</p>
<p>"The SAT Program recommends that schools do not place SAT scores on students' high school transcripts that are sent to colleges. Schools should encourage students to send official score reports to colleges. If a school still decides to send scores on a transcript, the SAT Program recommends that a school receive official consent from the student, parent or guardian before doing so."</p>
<p>but they still insist that they won't eliminate my scores. So instead i've discovered FERPA</p>
<p>It says that the school can't show my info without my consent. However, could the school decide to treat my transcript as an indivisible whole? Could they say . . . ok we're not sending your sats, but we won't send your transcript either? My parents are both lawyers from top-5 schools in the country, so I have some legal muscle behind me. Do you think FERPA will be enough to scare my school off?</p>
<p>I was just wondering if anyone else has experience with this? Does anyone have any tips?</p>
<p>Im so angry!!!!!!
Thanks in advance for your help.</p>
<p>I am not a lawyer but you are consenting to the school to release your record but you are asking them to omit certain information. In similar line of slippery slope, can you ask the school to omit for example the C grade you got on one particular class? If the school does the very same thing with all their students, then I think you don’t have a case here. And BTW, what’s really wrong with the 2200s score along side of 2400? If you have good GPA, I would concentrate on keeping up the grades and write good essays this summer. You will be fine, this is much ado about nothing.</p>
<p>SAT scores do not belong on a transcript without the student’s consent. The scores do not belong to the school, nor are they granted by the school, as grades in school courses are. </p>
<p>Schools often do things for all students that are just plain wrong; because the school “does the very same thing with all their students” is NOT a good argument.</p>
<p>kurzweil, I suggest that you/your parents look through your school district’s administrative procedures (which may be online) and also through your state department of education’s administrative procedures (which may also be online) to see what you can find about school records. </p>
<p>I would fight this; the school has no business listing outside scores on the transcript unless YOU want them there (and even if you do want them there, I would maintain that the school is not required to list them; transcripts should be official school records).</p>
<p>If the scores do not belong to the school, why do they get the scores? This could be something you need to also take up with College Board? Did we agree to something when signing up to take the test?</p>
<p>Have your parents look at the FERPA regulations. Section 99.31(a)(2) specifically exempts disclosures of “education records” to “officials of another school, school system, or institution of postsecondary education where the student seeks to enroll, or where the student is already enrolled so long as the disclosure is for purposes related to the student’s enrollment or transfer.” In other words, FERPA gives you no legal right to prevent your school from disclosing anything in your file that is a valid “education record” to colleges to which you’re applying. (The statute itself is a little vague on this point; it talks about “transferring” to another “school” without specifically mentioning postsecondary institutions, but the courts tend to give agencies a lot of leeway in interpreting ambiguous statutes, so the Department of Education regulations are probably the prevailing law here). And it’s hard to see why standardized test scores wouldn’t be considered “education records.”</p>
<p>I agree with ttparent ^^. If you get to edit which test scores your school reports, then why can’t you also edit which HS grades your school reports? But then there’s absolutely no integrity to the transcript system. That’s why FERPA creates this broad exemption for disclosures relating to “transfers” and, by extension in the regs, to applications to postsecondary institutions. You can argue with your school about its policy, but I’m not sure you have a legal argument, at least not based on FERPA. But then, I’m no FERPA expert, and I’m not in a position to give you legal advice. Consult your parents. Or better yet, another good lawyer who doesn’t have the emotional investment in the question that your parents might have.</p>
<p>Chill. It doesn’t look bad that you scored really well on the SAT and then on your second attempt got a perfect score. You’re making a big deal out of nothing.</p>
<p>Colleges will just look at the 2400, ignore the high 2200, note your test taking ability, and move on to the rest of the application.</p>
<p>Wow. Lots of replies really quick. Thanks for replying everybody.</p>
<p>TTparent - I hear what you’re saying about the slippery slope, but, like owlice said, I think there is a big difference between the SATs and classes at school, and I don’t think the school has any right to be butting into test scores that don’t belong to them. Also, in reference to your question, collegeboard sends your scores to whatever high school you list with them when you sign up. I was totally unaware of this. If your child (im assuming your a parent because of your username) has not taken the SAT yet, i think he/she should consider not putting his/her high school down.</p>
<p>bclintonk - That was an awesome post - very enlightening. However, I would disagree with you about the SAT being an educational record, but what do I know? I’m not a lawyer either.</p>
<p>I think everyone is taking this a tiny bit more seriously than I expected (my fault). I’m not hiring lawyers or anything. I’m doing the research myself, my parents are gonna check up on it, and then we’re going to go to my school and argue with the administration (if we have some sort of case). I’m just hoping my school will respect my ivy-league-degree-wielding parents a little more than they respect me. If the school still refuses to budge, then so be it. Having a 2290 next to my 2400 on my transcript isn’t gonna kill me.</p>
<p>Hmm … I could see where the HS might have a leg to stand on if the transcript included the AP test scores for AP classes taken at that HS. Still, those records should be used for their internal analysis purposes, not on an official record.</p>
<p>However, when it comes to transcripts, I’m from the KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) side of the house. SAT, Subject Test and AP scores should only be recorded at the site of the official record keeper, and that’s the College Board. There’s too much chance for error otherwise and besides, the colleges you apply to are going to want THE OFFICIAL RECORD, not some HS approximation.</p>
<p>Standardized test scores for standardized tests that the school administers and pays for are “education records.” My son has taken a lot of standardized tests, but they are on MY nickel, at HIS convenience, NOT required by the school, and are NOT “educational records” that belong to or are maintained by the school system. The school is not required to collect, keep, or report them.</p>
<p>If a college wants SAT scores, the student gets the official keeper of SAT scores – the College Board – to send them. Colleges will NOT accept SAT scores on a transcript as valid scores; they require a score report from the CB. There is no reason for a high school to track SAT scores. I’m sure many schools like to have that data, just as many schools like to know how much scholarship money students were offered from each school the students were accepted to, but students aren’t required to tell the school their SAT scores or their scholarship offers.</p>
<p>The school administers grades for classes the school offers, and, where necessary, for things like dual enrollment. Those are legitimate school records and of course the school needs to list and report grades for high school classes taken through the school system. My son took distance learning courses in middle and high school – grades for these courses are not listed on his school records, nor did he get credit through the district for having taken these courses. For the high school distance learning courses, we have the distance learning organization/school send his grades to his college, not the school district. If we had worked out with the school system that the kid would get school district/high school credit for these courses. THEN they could list his grades, but otherwise, no.</p>
<p>SAT scores are not the property of the school district and are not legitimate records for them. I can think of examples where they <em>might</em> be – if, for example, SAT scores are used within a school district to determine eligibility for a competitive-entry magnet program – but absent a special case, they should NOT be on a transcript unless a student wants them on that transcript.</p>
<p>Our HS does not put test scores on transcripts bcos of FERPA and a similar California privacy law. Not to mention, that it costs money (tax dollars?) to put the test scores on the transcripts. There is absolutely no reason for any HS to do so.</p>
<p>But since the OP’s first score was super, sending both will not matter at all to adcoms.</p>
<p>I beg to differ. If the records are collected, recorded, and maintained by the school system, they most assuredly “belong to” and “are maintained by” the school system. Nor is it relevant that the schools are “not required to collect, maintain, or report” such records. Who cares? Schools collect and maintain all sorts of records that they are under no legal obligation to collect and maintain. If your kid wins a statewide or national science competition, the school is under no legal obligation to collect, maintain, or report that information. But if its does, by putting the information in your kid’s file, its and “education record” just as much as the grades recorded by your kid’s teachers, and when the GC writes the recommendation s/he is entitled to report that information along with anything else s/he knows about the kid.</p>
<p>If you don’t like it, get the school district to change its policy. It’s not a FERPA issue. SAT scores surely relate to your kid’s educational accomplishments and potential. That’s enough to make them “education records” if they’re collected and maintained by the school district. Different schools districts may have differing views as to what they want to consider “education records.” I’d be more sympathetic if I thought there were a legitimate privacy issue here; but I think what’s fundamentally at stake is enabling college applicants to cheat by selectively reporting information that some colleges want to be comprehensively reported. It’s a little like saying the IRS shouldn’t be able to do a full audit because you have a right to cheat on your income taxes. Pure b.s.</p>
How does this pertain to the OP? He cannot make use of score choice, which many colleges DO permit, because he school is including information from testing that has taken outside of the school against his wishes.</p>
<p>Why the capitulation to the schools, just because this is how they want to do things? Lots of things relate to
So, therefore the schools get carte blanche on what to include on the record, even if those things are done OUTSIDE of the school and have nothing to do with the school itself?</p>
<p>Our HS did the same thing. The rationale was that lower income kids would not have to pay for their scores to be reported. That was the old position. In recent years, it is rare that colleges accept SAT scores reported through the high school transcript. I went first to guidance on behalf of my D, then to the principal then to the superintendent and was given permission for my D to instruct the guidance counselors to NOT include test scores. If a student wants SAT scores reported, they do not have to take any action. At the very least, if you press this argument you should be able to get an exception. Your point is valid and you should be able to choose which score to send.</p>
<p>For my subsequent children, I make sure they check off the box on the SAT/ACT to NOT send test scores to the high school. The scores are automatically sent to a student’s high school unless the student opts out. There is no reason for the HS to receive the SAT/ACT scores. </p>
<p>Lesson learned: make sure you know what the guidance department is sending out.</p>
<p>I agree that the students should have the privacy right to the information but the problem here is that the schools got the scores that originates from the test takers by virtue of putting in the school code. The schools did not require nor asked the students to submit the scores, it just has been part the process for a long time now. Another point is that ScoreChoice is new, and before this was less of a problem because all the scores were submitted in the past by College Board, there was no other choice.</p>
<p>Why would the school want to have SAT scores? For one thing, they keep a database of scores and GPA that used by GC as a tool to advise which schools students should apply to. A lot of students benefit from this information. Maybe they can record the info but not publish it, so I think you just need to push your own school to do what you want. I don’t think anyone is the demon here, things just need to settle down after this new introduction of ScoreChoice.</p>
<p>bclinktonk, you can certainly beg to differ, but if my son takes a test (or a course, or participate in a competition, or whatever) that is NOT given nor required by the school system, the school is NOT entitled to that information and shouldn’t be reported without express permission by the family, regardless of how they get the info. It’s not their information to give out.</p>
<p>School records are school records; my district has enough problems keeping their own records straight; they certainly don’t need to be trying to collect, maintain, and report data for which they are NOT responsible.</p>
<p>The bottom line is that the school is not responsible for SAT scores. Period. They shouldn’t be reporting them – it’s not their responsibility to do so, does NOTHING for the student, as colleges require the score report from CB, and may, as in this case, work against a student’s wishes.</p>
<p>“My parents are both lawyers from top-5 schools in the country, so I have some legal muscle behind me.”</p>
<p>My wife and I are fortunate to both be near the top of our professions. Law degrees, Masters from so called elite schools. And if my kids EVER made a statement like that above, I would put them on an iceberg and float them out to sea.</p>
<p>No it is not new. ACT has used score choice for a long time. CB used to offer score choice on Subject Tests but dropped it ~ten years ago (unofficially bcos they could not stop cheating).</p>