HI – I’m Doree Lewak, a New York Post reporter and College Confidential approved this query. I’m working on a new story about parents/ kids (especially in the NY-area) ‘gaming the system’ and getting extra time on ACT/ SAT (particularly when they don’t ‘need it.’). Would love hear from students/ parents/ experts about your strong feelings – for or against – accommodations. For attribution is preferred, but happy to discuss terms.
Thanks!
dlewak@nypost.com
The dificulty with your request, is that the only people who could possibly know if someone were getting “unneeed” acommodations, would be guidance counselors or parents who deliberately forged the records required for the application. For eyewitness reports on the difficulty of getting needed accommodations, the misery of taking exams that aren’t properly accommodated even when the accommodations have been approved, and the concerns about how to report results with accommodations, pay a visit to the Special Ed and Learning Disability forum. To find that, go to the main page where all of the forums are listed, and scroll down.
This post has been vetted by CC, and it is okay to use the reporter’s email address to respond. (Allowing vetted journalists … and ONLY vetted journalists … to include email addresses in their posts is a new policy.)
That’s sad that people would use accommodations when they don’t need them just to cheat, especially when there are countless students that actually NEED those accommodations to be competitive with their “normal” peers. My son is in the midst of taking the ACT with many accommodations. That testing organization was much more flexible than the College Board, which is why he’s not taking the SAT. And even after all the special testing changes, he’ll STILL have a terrible score because he doesn’t test well.
The only way that a student can get those accommodations, though, is if a psychologist, guidance counselor, or academic support staff member requests them using genuine evidence for the need so I’m not sure how the fakes are pulling this off. It says a lot about their character so I hope they’re eventually caught and black listed from any college, at least for a year.
MODERATOR’S NOTE: Moving to the Learning Differences and Challenges forum.
Test agencies are very careful about approving test accommodations, especially when diagnosis and academic assistance miraculously appear about when the SAT and ACT loom. They may deny accommodations that are irrelevant to taking the test. Extended time for a student with a foot problem may find extended time denied by a test agency, but approved at school. Extended time is more likely grant now because research on extended time is found to be helpful for students with a disability and need for extra time.
Extended time has negligible impact on scores of students without disabilities. Parents and students desperate for extended time but don’t have disabilities would do better to focus on developing academic proficiency, study and test taking skills, reading fluency and comprehension and so on. Simply, it makes sense to acquire the skills and knowledge measured by the test rather than try to take the system by applying for extended time.
The OP published a slanted article on this subject called, “Rich Parents are using Doctor’s Notes to Help Kids Cheat the SATs”
She makes it sounds as though a simple doctor’s note is all that’s needed to receive testing accommodation. Those of us who have paid thousands of dollars for testing and who helped compile a dossier for the college boards know that this is not true. The article seems meant to gain attention and stir up trouble. It hurts learning disabled students and their advocates who have fought hard to level the playing field.