Affirmative Access strikes again. How the rich protect their status quo.

[The Backlash Cometh]

I'm having an incredibly rough time getting special accommodations for my daughter for her SATs even though she's had an IEP since the second grade, and last night I went searching the net to find out why. What an incredible revelation. Read this to the fullest. It was as shocking to me as learning that CEOs were getting their kindergarteners into that exclusive pre-school AND getting the huge tuition paid by the company.

Does Loophole Give Rich Kids More Time on SAT?

Educators Say More Wealthy Students Get Diagnosed With Learning Disabilities to Get More Time on Test More high school students, especially at elite schools, are being diagnosed with learning disabilities in order to get more time to take the SAT and bump up their scores. The College Board no longer flags test-takers who were given special accommodations. (The Associated Press)

by JAKE TAPPER, DAN MORRIS and LARA SETRAKIAN March 30, 2006

When Ali Hellberg, 19, was in prep school, she said several of her classmates obtained notes from psychologists diagnosing them with learning disabilities, even though they didn't have any learning problems. They faked learning disabilities to get extra time to take the Scholastic Aptitude Test, or SAT, in the hopes of getting a higher score, she said. "I had a friend who is a good math student but is no math brain, and she got extended time and got a perfect score on her math SAT," Hellberg said. That friend now attends an Ivy League school. Some call this scheme the rich-kids loophole. With intense competition to get into Ivy League and other elite colleges, students say they need nearly perfect SAT scores, as well as great grades and impressive extra-curricular activities. A rising chorus of critics say high school students from wealthy ZIP codes and elite schools obtain questionable diagnoses of learning disabilities to secure extra time to take the SATs and beef up their scores. Hellberg believes that to get into Harvard or Princeton, she'd need to score at least a 1500. The highest SAT score is 1600. "I got below 1400 and I knew I didn't have a shot getting into an Ivy despite my grades and extra-curriculars," she said. 'Hired Guns' Give Diagnosis Approximately 300,000 students will take the three-hour-and-forty-five-minute SAT this Saturday; about 30,000 taking the test this year will be given special accommodations, including extra time. For decades, the College Board, which administers the SAT, has allowed up to twice as much time to accommodate students who have legitimate learning disabilities, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. But with college admissions more competitive than ever, guidance counselors and other educators say privileged kids have gamed the system.

At the elite Wayland High school outside Boston, the number of students receiving special accommodations is more than 12 percent, more than six times the estimated national average of high school students with learning disabilities. Wayland guidance counselor Norma Greenberg said that it's not that difficult for wealthy, well-connected students to get the diagnoses they want. "There are a lot of hired guns out there, there are a lot of psychologists who you can pay a lot of money to and get a murky diagnosis of subtle learning issues," Greenberg said. "'Subtle' is a word that is really a red flag. 'Executive functioning' is another red flag, something that is kind of a new thing." Other high school guidance counselors told ABC News that "diagnosis shopping" has given rise to a cottage industry of doctors and medical professionals, all willing to give students the documentation they need to get the extra test time they want. Concentrated Privilege The natural proportion of learning disabilities should be somewhere around 2 percent, the College Board said, but at some elite schools, up to 46 percent of students receive special accommodations to take the tests, including extra time. Harvard graduate student and researcher Sam Abrams conducted a study on students in Washington, D.C, where the number of students receiving accommodations is more than three times the national average. "We see outright overperformance scores that, on average, in the disability population, would qualify you without question to the elite universities," Abrams said. "This strikes me as very compelling evidence that people are taking advantage of the system in Washington, D.C." Abrams believes the abuse has become more frequent since fall 2003, when the College Board stopped "flagging" the scores of students who took the SAT with extra time. Since the "flag" was dropped, colleges have no way of knowing that the test was taken under nonstandard conditions. Abrams and his co-author, Miriam Freedman, believe this has made it more appealing for students who don't need the extra time to seek it out.

The College Board notes that there has not been an increase in the number of students receiving special accommodations. It acknowledges that scores for those students have increased but said that's evidence the students had learning disabilities. The College Board said students without learning disabilities did not show any marked improvement in scores when given extra time. In Chicago's wealthy northern suburbs, SAT tutor Jay Brody sees the same "diagnosis shopping" phenomenon as Greenberg. "Parents have asked me on numerous occasions if I know doctors who specialize in this," Brody said. "I know if you get on the Internet there are doctors who advertise that they perform this service, and there's really no incentive for doctors not to do it, and so I think it's pretty easy for anyone to find."


link: http://members.aol.com/clinictest/SATnightline.html

[pooja]

1. And then they run the country expecting special privelage no matter

where they go.

[The Backlash Cometh]

2. You hit that one on the nail.

That's a big point. I actually went on the net because I bumped into a woman who was experiencing the same problems. I wanted to see if others were experiencing the same thing. In our conversation, she had blamed the school system's over-emphasis on "poor performers." In her mind, the public school were far more interested in poor kids who performed badly, than problems that affected affluent white people. Little did she know that afflluent white people are gaming the system, making it more difficult for her and her child who has a legitimate problem.

[bloom]

5. "gaming the system"

I don't know if it's possible to have a system of accommodations that couldn't be gamed.

Everyone is on a continuum. Unless someone is legally blind (and even blindness would have a continuum) - there is always going to be some people who are close to the edge of accommodations and some who are not.

That some have access to doctors who will grant exceptions that others would not consider exceptions shows a break down in the rules. Some people probably figure the rules aren't fair anyway - so what's the difference.

Having education funded equally - regardless of neighborhood income and having Universal Health Care - so that anyone would have equal access to doctors seem like the logical steps for people who are serious about equality.


My daughter had accommodations - and an IEP - her last year of high school. She took the SAT without accommodations anyway - because that is what she preferred. As it was - she got a 1492. It does mean more when you know that you took it with the regular amount of time.

I think think that the accommodation scores should be flagged. It seems silly to me that so much effort is expended to make sure that people do not go over the allotted time (go over by a matter of seconds and you can have your test thrown out, etc.) - to then pretend it makes no difference if someone got time and half to finish.

Maybe the best answer would be to give everyone enough time to finish comfortably. Esp. if people are gaming the system to be able to do that.

[The Backlash Cometh]

6. You know, sometimes people say incredibly insensitive things withou

realizing it. I know I have, and I thought I'd point this out to you:

"It does mean more when you know that you took it with the regular amount of time."

My child has done a phenomenal job of overcoming her disability partly because of the efforts of the school's SLD teachers, and partly because of paid private tutors. But the key for her is repetition and familitarity and that's something that is impossible to do with a standerdized test. I'm very happy for you and your good fortune.

If I could be sure that people won't get discriminated against because of the flagging of the tests, then I agree with you that's one option. In reality, a corporation can protect any job that requires speed reading by claiming a valid BFOQ, I believe it's called. Bono Fide Occupation Qualification?

[TangoCharlie]

3. "More Time" is one strategy ...

Then the article quotes a "SAT Tutor", as if "SAT Tutor" is a normal, widely available professional resource. Again, something available to the rich or otherwise connected. Probably very common at the named "elite" schools.

A tutor for preparation seems to have value.

Having more time seems pointless. As I think back to SAT-Hell, more time would not have helped. I knew the answer, or I didn't. More time would not have helped in most cases. More time might have allowed me to overthink and rationalize myself away from a right answer. Who knows?

Anyway, I was sure glad when it was over. Whew.

Regards.

[The Backlash Cometh]

4. The rich have lots of benes that they take for granted.

I'm not necessarily going to dock them for "tutoring" their kids, since I've resorted to that system quite successfully to help my child with her learning disability. But these are things that should be out in the open to prevent the rich from developing a persecution complex and allowing them to badger less fortunate people who are receiving government assistance.

Make no mistake, this is about keeping the competition down. Republicans don't want the poor and less fortunate to get government assistance, because they don't want the competition.

And to a mother of a child with a learning disability, yes, time make a big difference. Enormous.

As for a regular child, I'd say that gaming the system might help a slacker student who is bright, but who maybe never put himself in a pressure situation before the SATs.

[applegrove]

7. No doubt...with more resources people get "more" out of the system.

I really think it is the poor kids who suffer the most. Middle class kids sometimes get the right diagnosis and help for IEPs and such too.

[The Backlash Cometh]

8. Poor kids need more than IEP classes.

I'm going to say it because no one else has the fucking guts to say it. In today's world, being raised poor in America is a form of child abuse. Not one that the parents can help, not one that society will admit to, but it's child abuse because we live in a technological world and they don't even have the right to their own dreams without being influenced by all the affluence around them, that they will never be able to touch.

You know, thirty years ago, if you were poor, you felt that society sympathized with you and you really believed that if you worked hard, you can get ahead. Today, even righteous Christians are blaming the poor for being poor. Me? If I were a kid raised on American soil today with the austere life we lived forty years ago, my greatest aspiration would have probably have been Gangsta Queen.

[applegrove]

9. I don't agree with all you said. Everyone is different but people with

excess cash, like the middle class, can do wonders for their kids with special needs. People who are poor can do wonders too. It is just way harder.

[The Backlash Cometh]

10. "It's just way harder."

Probably the understatement of the year.

But I do agree that the Middle Class has some disposable income to help their kids. Not as much as you think they do. It still requires sacrifices, sometimes. You'd be surprised how many people think that keeping up appearances are more important than giving your kid the best education possible. I'm often surprised by some wealthier people who did not spend money on tutors for their kids, who expected the public school to do it all.

[applegrove]

11. I don't think that we can do any more than generalize about families

of different income groups. Some very badly off mothers pull heaven out of their asses and do a better job than some rich people. It depends on the people. And the time when one's child grew up. Much more available these days than say in the 1970s. But yes..money does make thing easier.