Posted on 05/21/2019 9:02:34 AM PDT by reaganaut1
At Scarsdale High School north of New York City, one in five students is eligible for extra time or another accommodation such as a separate room for taking the SAT or ACT college entrance exam.
At Weston High School in Connecticut, it is one in four. At Newton North High School outside Boston, it’s one in three.
“Do I think that more than 30% of our students have a disability?” said Newton Superintendent David Fleishman. “No. We have a history of over-identification [as learning-challenged] that is certainly an issue in the district.”
Across the country, the number of public high-school students getting special allowances for test-taking, such as extra time, has surged in recent years, federal data show.
And students in affluent areas such as Scarsdale, Weston and Newton are more likely than students elsewhere to get the fastest-growing type of these special allowances, known as “504” designations, a Wall Street Journal analysis of data from 9,000 public schools found.
The special allowances don’t apply specifically to college entrance exams. They apply to all tests the students take while in school.
The effect, however, is to make these students much more likely to receive extra time or another special accommodation when they take an exam to get into college.
The 504 designation is meant to give students who have difficulties such as anxiety or ADHD a chance to handle the stress of schoolwork at their own pace and level the playing field. It often lets them have a separate room for test-taking and more time to do it.
The Journal analysis shows that at public schools in wealthier areas, where no more than 10% of students are eligible for free or reduced-cost school lunches, an average of 4.2% of students have 504 designations giving them special test-taking allowances
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
Pleeeeeeze....just make the time longer and if you finish early, you can leave.
I would use google to cheat when doing the SAT : )
They are creating more Snowflakes to be totally unable to live/thrive in the real world.
Lots of business for attorneys.
Unfortunately for Hornstine, her father was a New Jersey Superior Court judge. So even though she won her case, she came under so much public scrutiny that Harvard revoked her admission offer for plagiarism.
The big question is what is being evaluated.
The knowledge acquired
The ability to acquire a body of knowledge related to the knowledge already acquired
The ability to acquire a body of knowledge within a known set of parameters in terms of environment.
Employers are certainly interested in the third of the three options above. Other folks place a greater premium on one of the first two.
I’m basically in agreement with you, but can lay out the other positions.
Some athletes must get a few months to finish the SAT.
Costanza had a separate room to take his IQ test. Then he handed it out the window to Elaine who went to a Pakistani restaurant to take his test. She returned it to him through the window and Voila!
Its like an adversity score for white kids.
Does it actually do any good if you don’t have a specific disability that can be compensated for by more time?
I remember taking exams where they were “open book”. I eventually realized that the WORST thing you could do in an open book exam was to OPEN THE BOOK, unless you had time at the end to maybe check a quote or something small. If you HAD that time at the end, it was likely you’d already aced the exam anyway.
In other words, if you’re not prepared, a crutch isn’t going to help you.
For some reason I always thought that being the first to leave was the whole idea of testing.
I learned about this when I was at the top of the Ivies and our SAT scores came up in conversation. Also, many of the kids got to use portable computers in-class and during exams because they had “disabilities.” Always thought it funny to have “disabilities” in learning and yet go to my school.But, like many of the “minorities,” it’s important that they displace smarter kids.
Kinda blows up the “standardized” part of standardized exams.
I’ve lived in 3rd world countries, and have found excessively centralized, bureaucratic, legalistic “social justice” systems ALWAYS promote cronyism, corruption, scams and gaming of the system.
Sadly, I feel America has become nearly the same. Different scams, but same effect.
Although I'm not certain I believe that Weston (part of the "Tri-State" area) is one of the richest residential suburbs on earth.And having grown up there I *know* that Newton is...although the southern part of the city,home of Newton South High School,is where the doctors,lawyers and top executives live.
Given the wealth here one can only assume that these kids need extra time because of their eczema or their acute gender dysphoria.
Interesting.
Back in my day, we’d compete to see who could leave the SAT earliest - and still make a very good score.
But then again, we were in a parochial school - where we actually got a solid education.
Daddy & Mommy’s purse size slows down time!
> This racket of wealthy parents rigging their school careers for their “disabled” children has been going on for years. <
And not just wealthy parents. In my neck of the woods (a rust-belt town...no millionaires here) there is a cottage industry of sorts.
You send your kid to a “tutor”, who teaches your kid how to “fail” a learning ability test. Then the kid gets classified as a special ed student. Why would any parent want to do that? A special ed kid is a disabled kid. That makes the parent eligible for monthly checks from the government.
(Such a check is not automatic. You’ve got to apply for it. Much of it depends on how good the kid was tutored.)
The College Board tests are ridiculous and only serve to support the test prep industry. The stress it causes the students and families is awful. I think the SAT and ACT are outdated and should be banned.The time and money could be better spent on life skills courses or getting a job.
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