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The New York Post

DISABLED STUDENTS GET TESTY
SATS DENY NEEDS KIDS

By YOAV GONEN, Education Reporter
Published: October 15, 2007

When more than 100,000 of the city's 10th- and 11th-graders sit down to take the PSATs on Wednesday, not all of them will be doing so on a level playing field.

That's because children with learning disabilities have been finding it more difficult in recent years to get necessary testing accommodations - like extra time, a private room or computer assistance - from an increasingly vigilant College Board, special-education advocates charge.

Last year, of the 2,947 New York City student requests for testing accommodations - which are good for any College Board exams, such as the PSATs, MCATs or LSATs - 871 were denied.

This year, of the 2,453 requests, 1,096 were denied, according to the city Department of Education.

"In order to demonstrate that people really need it, the [College Board] has narrowed the contours of who gets accommodated," said Jo Anne Simon, a Brooklyn-based civil rights attorney.

Critics say the College Board began to clamp down on testing accommodations nationwide in 2003, the year the board removed any indications on student score reports that special accommodations had been given.

The removal of that marker prompted fears that general-education students would try to file for unneeded accommodations, which in turn led the College Board to tighten eligibility rules, according to local educators and advocates.

They reported having long battles with the College Board to get students accommodated, even when it was clear - such as the case of a student with crippling cerebral palsy who couldn't grip a pencil - that they were warranted.

"Kids who have frank learning disabilities or processing-speed disorders have really had to make strong cases to convince the college board of the need," said Dr. Lydia Soifer, a pathologist and education consultant who lives in The Bronx.

The College Board disputes those claims.

"College Board procedures are consistent and aligned with federal and state laws that protect the rights of students with disabilities," said a spokeswoman for the organization.

Nationally, the number of students who took the SAT with testing accommodations climbed steadily from 21,618 students in 1997 to 32,654 in 2003, according to College Board statistics.

After that, however, the numbers dropped steadily - dipping to a low of 24,496 last year, before climbing to 28,605 this year.

yoav.gonen@nypost.com

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The New York Times

THE WEEK; Your School's SAT Scores Fell? You're Not Alone

By FORD FESSENDEN
Published: February 11, 2007

Performance on the SAT test fell at most public high schools in New Jersey in 2006, according to newly released information from the state's annual school report card.

Average scores on the combined verbal and mathematics sections fell at 242 of the 345 high schools whose results were published by the state. That was a reversal from the previous year, when the average score at most schools increased over 2004.

Officials with the College Board, which administers the test, said in August that SAT scores had dropped nationwide in 2006, when a new writing section was added. They said the changes were caused by a decrease in the number of students taking the test more than once, a practice that usually results in higher scores.

In New Jersey, scores from the new essay section were released for the first time last week as part of the school report card, a huge compendium of information on school finance, demographics and student performance that is compiled annually for every school. The schools whose students did best on the new section were those that did well on the older parts of the test: magnet schools and conventional high schools in the state's wealthier areas.

The High Technology High School in Monmouth County had a combined average score of 2038 out of a possible 2400, the highest in the state. The school also had the highest score in the state on the new essay test, 662 out of a possible 800. Bergen County Academies, in Hackensack, and the Academy for Math, Science and Engineering, in Morris County, also had average scores of 2000 or higher.

The top conventional school was Millburn High School, with an average of 1864, followed by Princeton High School and Tenafly High School.

For more information, see education.state.nj.us/rc/rc06/index.html.

CLICK HERE for more information about your district's scores and ranking on the SAT.