05/21/2019
This is a very good article.
There is an unjust disparity in accommodating kids on important college entrance exams - for sure. And not just for the influential cheaters we learned about recently. This article highlights the racial and economic differences very nicely.
I believe the solution is to eliminate the 3 hr time limit for everyone who takes the ACT and SAT. Everyone.
The 80% who can finish within normal time limits will. The other 20% who are distractible, anxious or struggle with a learning disability, will take the time they need, if they are internally motivated to succeed.
Of course there are some students who won’t really need the extra time, but will take it anyway, to achieve a perfect or near perfect score, but what’s wrong with that? I take all the extra time I need to do my work when high quality really counts.
And of course, there are some who will struggle to get great scores no matter how much extra time they take. This is true even with the current system.
Moving to universal untimed testing would require adjustments from college admissions offices - to understand what these new “untimed” scores really mean in terms of who is a good candidate to their program and who isn’t - But I do not believe that is a sufficient reason to keep the system we currently have.
And by the way, my professional practice will likely suffer if the change I am proposing is made. It is against my personal best interests to encourage Universal untimed standardized testing.
But I’m sick of the problem. It’s been around for decades. Cant we just fix it?
Responding to parent pleas, high schools are granting special test-taking accommodations to growing numbers. A Wall Street Journal analysis shows it happens far more often in wealthy areas.
