<p>Is it just me, or do others find the reporting in the Slate article slippery? Here’s the key quote apparently referenced by the OP: </p>
<p>“But in places like Greenwich, Conn., and certain zip codes of New York City and Los Angeles, the percentage of untimed test-taking is said to be close to 50 percent.”</p>
<p>There is no source quoted as saying this. “Said to be” is an easy way to avoid quoting a source, if there really is an authoritative source. What does “close to 50 percent” mean? And I find it extremely difficult to believe that anything like 50% of the kids are literally taking the test untimed. Although I am aware of accomodations of 50% extra time and 100% extra time, I am not aware of these tests being literally untimed. If this is an accomodation that truly is available (it is not one of the options on the CB application form), I’m sure it happens extremely rarely, even in Greenwich, CT.</p>
<p>Given the sloppy reporting in the article, I have trouble accepting any of its conclusions. While I’m sure that abuse does exist, and that families with lots of money have more potential to game the system, I know that CB has made the hurdle quite high for those applying for accomodations.</p>
<p>I looked at the paper referenced in the Slate article. It reported that test takers getting time accomodation in recent years were getting scores that were on average 0.1 to 0.2 standard deviations higher than the authors expected. This means about 10 or maybe 20 points. I don’t think this something to get overly excited about.</p>