Stop the SAT Games

Rich white students--largely boys, including some who might not actually have learning disabilities--are more likely to receive extra time to take the highly competitive SAT college entrance exam than less affluent and minority students who have legitimate claims to the special treatment. That’s the conclusion of a California state audit that confirmed and expanded on The Times’ disclosure of the problem, published earlier this year.

A disproportionate number of students who attend private schools and public schools in wealthy suburbs get the benefit although they may have no history of learning disabilities, according to the audit, released last week. Most are male; boys are more often classified as learning-disabled.

Few learning-disabled students who attend public schools in poor or working-class neighborhoods receive the accommodation, according to the report. That disparity should be fixed.

The College Board, which administers the SAT, allows students with certain learning disabilities to spend 4 1/2 hours on the standardized test, normally only three hours long. The policy, which protects disabled students from discrimination as the law requires, is intended to give those students a chance to complete as much of the exam as others.

The audit found that “some undeserving students may have received extra time on standardized tests, possibly giving these students an unfair advantage over other students taking the same tests.” Many benefited improperly because their parents, armed with lawyers and misdiagnoses or unsubstantiated claims from psychologists or pediatricians, played games with the system.

The report provides more ammunition for state Sen. Richard Alarcon (D-Sylmar), who plans to reintroduce a bill that would require schools and principals, in recommending extra time for a student, to produce greater documentation of a learning disability and proof that the student had been granted extra time on other standardized tests. The legislation, which failed earlier this year because it was based primarily on anecdotal evidence, would also provide more information to parents, principals and schools about which students are eligible.

Additional time for testing should be reserved for students who are disabled. It’s not a perk for those who know how to work the system.