Every state has a series of tests to meet the NCLB requirements. Some still use the Iowa Basics, others have developed their own. I received the results of these, just like a report card, and my kids could see theirs. Many kids ‘on the playground’ certainly knew their results. There were kids involved in spelling bees, geography bees, quiz bowls and they knew the results (as compared to others). I know a lot of kids who were evaluated for gifted and talented programs who knew their results, know their IQ scores. I knew their results because their parents shared them.
one thing from Axios this morning (my favorite newsletter addiction) and then, gawds, I need to get back to work! ?
Axios’ Dan Primack interviewed a well-known Silicon Valley investor who says he was offered a “side door” into USC by Rick Singer, who told a federal court that he helped 761 families cheat the college admissions process.
The investor agreed to tell his story as long as his name wasn’t used. He says he did nothing wrong, and that law enforcement hasn’t contacted him.
Here’s his story:
“When you have kids in their junior year of high school, all the parents start talking about college counselors and who they’re using. … Someone had mentioned Singer to me and given me his cell phone number, so I called him up. He came to our house four, maybe five times. … Test prep. Getting all the applications in order. Things like that. …
But then it got weird. He sort of said: “I think I can get your kid into USC, but he’s going to be a football player.” Now my kid only played freshman football and wasn’t sure he wanted to go to USC …
Singer tells me there would be a spot and he doesn’t actually have to play football. He makes it all sound so reasonable, except that he also says he’ll need a picture and asks if I have one from freshman football. …
He uses the word “side-door.” Something like, “Your kid can’t really get in here, but I’ve got a way to get him in the side-door.” … I finally just said to give some other child the opportunity. No money was ever discussed with me, outside of the regular monthly fee to do the standard stuff. But the idea of doctoring up an application was not my sort of thing.”
@itsv “Trust me, the Buckingham family has hired a media specialist as well as a lot of lawyers to navigate themselves out of this mess that they created.”
They are a family of Media Specialists - What is interesting is the dad has been silent in al of this; not sure if he’s been implicated at all?
One of the accused moms wrote a parenting book - that is just too, too much!
Snitch!
Bill Ferguson, the Women’s Volleyball at Wake Forest was previously Men’s Volleyball Coach at USC. He left in 2015. https://www.latimes.com/sports/sportsnow/la-sp-usc-mens-volleyball-coach-bill-ferguson-out-20150508-story.html
Not entirely true. John B. Wilson’s son actually was a water polo player in high school. But he wasn’t good enough to be given a spot on the USC team, so the USC water polo coach had to lie to the admissions committee about his swimming time being extremely fast. His son ended up being a bench warmer for his freshman year at USC and then quit the team after that.
The problem with athletic recruits is that there is no standard for being a good athlete except for the coach’s say-so, and that gives the coach too much power in admissions. That is the part of the admissions process that is secret and potentially underhanded.
@Lindagaf
I noticed Northeastern released right on time last night and they have been mentioned in this scandal. U of Chicago decisions are expected tomorrow.
“Penn bribery case predates college admissions scandal”
https://www.philly.com/news/admissions-bribery-scandal-penn-jerome-allen-20190314.html
I really think this is just the tip of the iceberg. The more they look, the more they’re going to find.
one thing I need to shout out that you guys are awesome . its healthy and great discussion and I am learning a lot … (just a side note … carry on please! 
)
@SouthernHope I have read similar reports of supposedly innocent people being made aware of Singer’s schemes and not participating. But apparently, no one bothered to alert anyone to the scheme. What ever happened to “if you see something, say something.”
Ex-football player in Canada charged with paying $200,000 to hike test scores for sons
Even Canadians are getting caught in the net.
@ucbalumnus
Agree with you totally. MIT/Caltech/Harvey Mudd will not be high on these families’/kids’ target lists.
This scandal reminds me of another scandal- Laundry prep school’s fabricating their students’ profile to get them into top colleges. Total different demographics yet both gaming the “holistic” admission loopholes. Selective college admission process really should be more transparent.
The problem is not the lack of guarantee. The problem is that the entire premise of a tryout was fake.
Companies are responsible for their employees behavior. Case in point is the $215M payout that USC made for an Ob-Gyn that abused students.
"@SouthernHope I have read similar reports of supposedly innocent people being made aware of Singer’s schemes and not participating. But apparently, no one bothered to alert anyone to the scheme. What ever happened to “if you see something, say something.”
The thing about that story that sounded strange was it involved getting the kid in via football - which is obviously a big time sport at USC. I would think it would be much harder to get away with doing this with a high profile sport at a high profile program where the names of recruits are publicized and likely to be scrutinized by people both within and without the school. Also, USC football has been rocked by scandals and you think they would be very careful about what they do.
My public-schooled kids in CA have had standardized tests since about 2nd grade. It used to be called STAR testing and then there were a couple of years where they switched over to a computer-based system and had to norm the new system so the kids were still tested but (I’m trying to remember exactly how it worked so I might be wrong) they weren’t given an exact percentile, or maybe they were but the school itself wasn’t. Parents were always mailed the results and could of course chose to share the results with the kids or not so the kids themselves may or may not know. But I think you’d have to be fairly dense to think you were a 99% kind of student when the reality is that you are at best a 50% type.
Losing faith in the college admissions system here in the US is one thing, but now they’re messing with the reputation of Dudley Do-Right.
This seems to me to be an entirely unreasonable ask. A parent is dealing with someone they hired or think they might hire, and the (potential) hiree hints at shady or unethical conduct. The deal may or may not be illegal, the hiree is just hinting, you don’t know who to call, if you called some law enforcement agency 99% of the time they’d just blow you off. If the parent doesn’t want to be involved in the potentially shady conduct, they just cut off the employment relationship and move on.
@Lostinsearch , I believe Northeastern is not involved. I think it’s USC, Stanford, UCLA, UTA, Yale, U SanDiego, Wake Forest, and Georgetown that are involved.
I think some of these wealthy families who had contact with Singer but didn’t take the bait are now jumping up to show how “virtuous” they are. But, the fact that no one reported anything says a lot about their values. You don’t get to congratulate yourself just because you didn’t commit fraud if you simply stood by and allowed it to happen.