As if the SAT people didn’t have their hands full already, ABC’s Nightline decided this was a good time to raise the special accommodations issue again. Are affluent kids gaming the system?
Three quick SAT thoughts: First, until some sort of comparable interstate measure is available, even something like the American Diploma Project perhaps, it seems like the SAT can screw-up quite a bit and colleges and universities will still use it. They need it because high school transcripts are so unreliable. Second, I don’t think it is so good for FairTest that they only make it in the news and public debate when the testing industry is screwing up. Over time an organization needs (a) more than an enthusiastic flack and (b) a positive agenda for change and it’s unclear what exactly their agenda is beyond a quasi-Marxist aversion to the way most things in this country work.
Finally, someone please explain to me what I’m missing here. With the SAT’s recent woes and clumsy PR moves, it seems like now would be the perfect time for the ACT to go on offense to expand their market share, no? A subtle PR campaign that you can count on the ACT…Or would they have the same problems if they got bigger? Are they just not interested? The Midwest is nice after all…Maybe #2 Pencil can explain this?
Update: USA Today ed board debates SAT’s Caperton.