Is taking the SAT with accommodations always a good idea?
Saturday, June 18th, 2005
We live in a society that is obsessed with SAT test scores and getting into “name” colleges.
Some parents are having their kids evaluated for LD so that they can get accommodations like extra time on the SAT even though the kids with no history of learning disabilities. The thinking is that this will produce a higher SAT score.
In theory, once someone has a label “LD” their SAT test accommodations are hidden from colleges and universities reviewing the scores (the ADA supposedly says this). I’m not sure that this is so in practice.
The problem with this scenario, besides being unfair to students who truly are LD, is that these students might be admitted to schools where they cannot do the work: they can’t reproduce the type of work reflected in the highly accommodated test scores without full time accommodations in college, and these students may want to drop the LD label upon being admitted.
The more general question, for students with and without learning disabilities and their parents is, would you rather have, for instance, an SAT score of 1100 with accommodations or a score of 1000 without?
Put another way, do you think the score of 1000 with no accommodations is better than 1100 with extended time and someone reading the test to you or is the higher number always better no matter what accommodations are used to get it?
Is there a law preventing the accommodation from being communicated to the colleges? Is there any way for the colleges to acquire info regarding the SAT accomodation without the applicant telling them?
Joy, that’s an important question and one of the things that many people asking for accommodations do not realize there is a possiblity of. The answer is that the law (ADA) prevents communication of this but I’m told that the information gets through.
That begs the question, if you knew there was a possibility of the college knowing and you weren’t sure what it would mean to them, would you still ask for the accomodation if you could take the test without it (and get a slightly lower score).
The other piece of this that few consider is that if one achieves a high score with the accommodation and the fact is hidden from the school, how is it the school’s responsibility to offer similar accommodations to those admitted this way?
Some people who are score-driven and ask for accommodations to raise their score do not take into account how they will do in college once they get in. Thanks for your comment.
My son has just taken the SAT I and SAT II, with accomodations he needs due to his LD issues. He never would have done as well without them. As we look at colleges, we try to be realistic as to what he can/wants to handle. The scores give him the ability to more freely chose what is the best fit for him. Additionally, it gives the college admissions staff a clearer picture of who he is.
Lois, thanks for the comment.
My question for you would be: what would happen in college if your son did not have the same kinds of accomodations he had when taking the SAT? In other words, doesn’t doing well with accomodations mean that he must choose a college that provides at least as much accommodation for regular academic work?
If that’s the case, how do higher scores alone help you better choose a college?
I would like to get feedback on SAT Test Prep website, http://www.satprepplan.com. The most interesting part about the site is the custom study plan creation tool. It works like this: students take the SAT practice test and then a custom prep plan is created for them based on their strengths, weaknesses, times to study, and time until the test. SAT Prep Plan also includes a bunch of practice problems, problem solving videos, SAT vocabulary, tips and other prep materials. Any feedback about the site I can get would be great.
As in so many things in life – it depends. If your child is truly LD, go for the accommodations. If your child is looking for an advantage, teach them about integrity. If the parent is looking for any advantage, remember your child learns from you. For my child, his test prep without accommodations and his SAT with accommodations were not so different. What was different was his sense of control with the longer time, his ability to better express himself using a computer, the lack of near suicidal anxiety. If some other folks take advantage, let them live with the cheat. Testing is so artificial anyhow.
Patricia: Amen. Well said.
Patricia, I love what you said and how you said it. You’re along for the ride providing some needed navigation but your son’s at the wheel. Bravo!
just an fyi – All colleges have a disability support services office. If a student has a disability, they can be given accommodations in their classes and classwork. For information, contact the office mentioned above. I’ve used these services at several colleges and my accommodations made a BIG difference.
Should a learning disabled student have to settle for a less competitive school simply because he or she has a learning disability?
liz: think the issue is, can the student do the work and stay in. If the student with LD can’t do the work and the school’s support program can’t keep them in the game, then yes, an LD student ought to be going to a less rigorous school. The issue isn’t status, it’s being able to do the work, learn something, pass classes, and graduate.
The short answer: maybe.
Richard: For learning disabled students the issue is about status.
For example, consider a 21 year old individual who performed well enough in school to make the dean’s list at a competitive institution almost every semester of his/her academic career, but following one semester was placed on academic probation. After the academic probation status, the student was determined to have a learning disability and has since earned a perfect GPA due to the accommodations. Now, due to the student’s extraordinary academic success, he has been denied testing accommodations for a graduate school admissions test because he was considered too intelligent for his disability to meet the ADA definition.
Now the individual is being denied equal access because of his disability status (or lack there of). For individuals who are intelligent, but do have a disability, status is the issue.
If you look at your question in the extreme, would you rather have a SAT score of 1500 with accommodations or a score of 600 without accommodations, the answer is obvious.
Liz: So, what’s the answer? It’s not obvious to me. If you got the accommodation, got a high SAT score, got admitted to Harvard where you then flunked out because it was too hard for you, who wins?
Richard: Consider your assumption that a learning disabled individual can not be an intelligent individual is false.
Liz: I didn’t say that or imply it. Consider your assumptions about who I am false. I am a learning disabled adult myself and have been working in the field for 25 years. I’ve never said that LD people can’t be or aren’t intelligent nor did I say it above.
What I am saying is that being LD and smart does not make one qualified to handle the academic rigors of any college or university. Of course, it doesn’t mean you cannot either, I know that. But, it’s not a forgone conclusion that all LD people are smart, and that all smart LD people can go to any college or university. Just like it ought not be a forgone conclusion that any non-LD smart person can do the work at any college of university.
I am LD, relatively intelligent, but I’m quite sure that I could not handle the academic workload of Harvard of Yale. That doesn’t mean I’m stupid, just that those are not the right schools for me. I don’t care about status, I care about being able to do the work, stay in school, and learn something. I tried UCLA and UC Berkeley but knew I’d flunk out so left. I went to the University of Oregon and it was the right school for me. I learned a lot, graduated, and went on to graduate school.
If I got an SAT score of 1500 with accommodations, I still would have had a hard time with UC or any school that was too tough for me. The important thing is to do the work, learn something, and graduate. The status of going to a high end school is meaningless if you flunk out and questionable even if you don’t.
I believe the answer to this debate lies in the research. It has been shown that if ALL students were given accommodations then the scores of those with LDs would change significantly and those without LDs would not.
I also think that we have to seriously evaluate what we are testing with the SAT. How important is speed in thinking? Is there a benefit to thinking more slowly and more deliberately? If speed is so important to success at a college like Harvard and Yale then by all means it is probably important to test for speed in a college admissions test. But the reality is that speed and ability to answer multiple choice questions within a set amount of time has very little to do with how well somebody does at an institution like Harvard or Yale. And perhaps that deep thinker who is slow and ponderous and needs time to really analyze answers is the type of student that would do better at Harvard then the student who whips through an SAT test and gets a perfect score.
Jisp: You really nailed this, I totally agree with you. Not just about the research but about testing rewarding a certain type of fast, highly verbal thinking.
The system is stacked to support and promote a certain type of learning style and many schools want students with that learning style because they are easier to teach, but, they aren’t necessarily the best thinkers. Or, looked at another way, it’s best to heave a heterogeneous student body and workforce with different types of thinker/processors in it.
Thanks for a great comment/post.
I went to college later in my life because I come from a country where no help was available for student with LD. When I immigrate to the States I went back to school, in a city college, mainly to learn English. It was then that I discovered that help was available for student with LD. I was able to transfer at UCLA where there is a great service for student with disabilities. I was given accommodations that allowed me to be successful: I was allowed a lighter load of unit per quarter, and I took all my tests and exams on an isolated room with a computer. I also got to know myself better: I knew what kind of course I would most likely succeed (Honors program with lots of reading , debates and term papers) and most importantly, I learned to accept myself and the fact that i had to work twice as much than regular students for the same result. I finished UCLA with Magna Cum with Honors. I don’t believe that giving accommodations to a non-LD student would make him/her more successful because eventually that person will be caught up by his/her lack of commitment to work or abilities. But for smart students who truly have a LD, disclosure and accommodation can make a huge difference in their prospective success in college and in life in general. So I am all for disclosure and I would recommend LD students to visit the department of students with disabilities when selecting their colleges.
Thank you for your honest and frank comment Nathalie. I hope others will take your experience seriously and learn from it.
What will you do next? What kind of job do you have or are you looking for?
Wow, that’s a great story nathalie. Thank you for sharing your story to us. I agree “disclosure and accommodation can make a huge difference in the prospective success of smart students who truly have a LD in college.”
@Patricia. You are truly correct.
This post can really boggles the mind. Richard you have a great stuff here.
@Jisp, yes research is the answer to this.