We all remember the shocking announcement that the SAT admitted to making hundreds of errors on the college admissions test. Now, more bad news.
About the time students were getting their acceptance letters, SAT disclosed that hundreds of errors were made in scoring. The Texas center announced hundreds of students received higher scores than deserved and many received lower scores than deserved. The lower scores were corrected but the inflated scores were not. College admissions counselors may have recruited students that are not up to college standards. Large scholarships may have gone to students less deserving than those rejected. Nationwide, over 4,000 students had scores that were not correct.
Lawsuit
It is no surprise that a student from Minnesota is suing the College Board and Pearson Educational Measurement for damages. It is a surprise that more are not doing the same. College entrance and scholarships are often based on SAT and ACT scores in addition to high school performance. In the past, these college entrance scores were never questioned for accuracy. That is no longer the case.
Errors are unacceptable when so much emphasis has been placed on these tests. This has fueled a movement to remove these tests from the college admissions process. A website, FairTest, is growing in popularity. This site lists colleges that do not require ACT and SAT tests for admission. Some prestigious colleges being added to the list of school no longer requiring ACT and SAT tests. These schools have joined others in being ACT/SAT Optional.
Internal SAT Investigation
The College Board has conducted its own investigation of the problem. However, a state senator has demanded to see the report. The College Board resisted stating that the investigation was not yet complete. Not wanting to risk a contempt charge, the College Board has turned over the documents.
Discovery
Frank Eltman of the Associated Press investigated the situation. The College Board did not come forward with an announcement of the errors until two students demanded to have their tests hand-scored. At this time, errors were uncovered. This lead to more investigation and in the end, it was uncovered that out of 498,000 test-takers in October of 2005, 4,411 tests had errors. While most of them were quite small, Eltman reports that one test score was off 450 points. 450 points is the difference between being admitted or rejected and between receiving a small scholarship or a large one.
Big Business
While the College Board is a non-profit organization, Eltman states that it collected $599 million in revenue last year and administered 9 million exams.
Testing is big business but there is no room for errors of this magnitude.
Read more on SAT Scores Drop, SAT and the Learning Disabled, and ACT Scores Falling, More on The SAT and Admissions by Lynn Byrne. Related article: He'll Cheat For You on the SAT
Read previous articles on Educational Issues.
Copyright article 2006. Barbara Pytel. All Rights Reserved.
