Friday, July 07, 2006

ETS Loses 153 SAT Tests -- Parental Uprising Pending

Via the District 299 CPS Blog, news that the Educational Testing Service has lost 153 answer sheets for the May 6 SAT test. The sheets belonged to students from the Naperville, Illinois area.

In Illinois, students typically take the ACT for the purpose of college admission, which means that students taking the SAT are generally bound for east and west coast colleges that prefer the SAT. And Naperville is a wealthy area with very strong schools. These are, in other words, high-achievers, with parents of the personality type the phrase "high-achieving teenager" suggests.

I would suspect a significant portion of the 306 parents of those 153 students are currently raising hell with any and every customer service rep at ETS headquarters. Hexes and voodoo curses may be in the offing.

It is usually the case that taking the test a second time does not result in a lower score, and the students will have their money refunded and the chance to take the tests again for free. So except for the inconvenience, there is probably little real harm to the students. However, some kid could theorize that his score on the second test is lower than it might have otherwise been, and both the kid and his parents might find that suing ETS is an easy and profitable way to release their frustrations.

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