A few direct observations as a "consumer"
Last Saturday I had the "pleasure" of experiencing the SAT as a parent. My eldest son is a high school junior and because of a youth in government conference in Olympia he was unable to take the May administration without cutting that conference short. So he instead registered for the June administration; while he does tend to wait till the last minute in this case he submitted his application well in advance of the deadline. When he received his response from the College Board we were appalled to see that he had been assigned to take the test at Bellarmine Preparatory School which is in Tacoma.
Actually we were both incredibly frustrated and relieved at the same time. Let me explain: I know and tremendously admire Bellarmine and visit there annually as it is a major feeder school for Seattle University. The reason I was horrified was because it is located 46.52 miles from our house. My son's high school is one half mile from our house; the other school in the same district is 1.5 miles from our house. There are easily 10 or more public and private high schools within a 5 mile radius of our house. However, inexplicably the College Board felt the need to assign my son to take the test in another city, in another county, an hour drive from our house. This was to take a critical test early on a Saturday morning.
Well, my knowing exactly where Bellarmine was relieved the stress for both of us; also we were very fortunate that as it was a sunny day the drive was easy (and for another reason I will cite below.) Unfortunately, and this is my first beef, my son had to get up one hour earlier than he would have had to if the College Board would have assigned him to a site within a 10 mile radius of our house (where there are easily 25-30 high schools). Of course, as luck would have it, my son had a reading/event with his literary magazine the night before and didn't get home till after 10 (not optimal planning on his high school's part).
He was advised by the College Board in a confirmation to be at the test center to register by 7:45. This required his getting up at 5:30 in order to have a decent breakfast as well as to shower before the test. Had we not had to spend the time driving I would have insisted he take a run before his shower and breakfast to make sure he was fully alert and energized. I woke up at 4:30 worried because I didn't want to oversleep and to assure he'd have a full hot breakfast waiting when he woke up to maximize his time. Breakfast is absolutely essential in order to fully concentrate on an examination.
We arrived with a few minutes to spare so, knowing Bellarmine, I'd already scoped out a coffee shop where I insisted he get a muffin and some juice for his break, and biscotti just in case. I had called the school the day before and had been lead by a colleague to believe by the test would be over by noon.
When we arrived at the campus I was stunned to see a large crowd of students standing on the lawn outside the administration building; I don't believe the proctors were there yet. If they were, for some inexplicable reason they decided to keep the students standing outside; my son later called me on his cell phone and told me that they'd been kept outside till ~ 8:30, then they were allowed inside to register (he called to advise me the test would probably not end till 12:30). He was in one of the first groups led to a room and began the exam ~ 9:10. Note, he was advised in his College Board instructions that he needed to be there an hour and 25 minutes earlier. So he started the exam 3 hours and 40 minutes after he woke up/breakfast.
I was of the impression that the test was 3 1/2 hours; so I'd planned to be back at Bellarmine by noon; of course, there was no point in my driving home so I retired to the aforementioned coffee house and read till noon. Other King County parents were similarly disadvantaged. Then I went to the school and saw a hand written note taped to the door "SAT ends 1 - 1:30". Admittedly, I have a short fuse and I was seeing stars at this point. Since misery likes company I spoke with a few other parents there. We were far from the only folks from Seattle; among them I had a long talk with a parent who lives in View Ridge (NE Seattle) and whose son attends Bishop Blanchet here. I spoke with a parent from Gig Harbor (not that far from Tacoma, but in my estimation unnecessarily far away). None of us could understand why when our children had registered with ample time that they'd ended up placed here. None of us knew when the test was scheduled to end as the notification our children received didn't provide that. None of us imagined it would be 1:30. All of us were frustrated and upset that we hadn't prepared lunches for them to eat during the break. Note that the test ended 5 hours and 45 minutes after the students were instructed to be on site.
When the test was over all the students walked out exhausted; I have been in higher education 29 years, I am inured to seeing test exhaustion. However, this was visible and palpable, not just because my kid was involved. However, I do tend to get particularly irate when I feel my children are being poorly treated.
Let me summarize with a few observations:
-- anyone in education knows that having a proper diet is essential to effective performance on a test. In any work place people normally have lunch no later than 4 hours after arrival, at which point they are pretty hungry. Students were clearly not giving the test their best concentration after 11:45, yet the test continued 1 hour and 45 minutes longer.
-- I see no reason why students were required to be there at 7:45 and did not begin registration for well over an hour later; perhaps this is some local test center administration disfunction. I don't care about a rationale; it is inexcusable. These are students; this is an examination crucial to their future. The registration process should be in place by the time the students are told to arrive and should begin promptly. It didn't. If it had been raining or cold it would have been more miserable for the students.
-- My son indicated that at the other school in his district (which did offer the SAT last Saturday) that the reason they were "full" was because of the number of proctors assigned. So in other words, had there been more proctors hired, more students from King County could have gone to that site. However, for me the operative question is why weren't more schools offering the test. My son's school, and many of the schools in a 5 mile radius, have the vast majority of their graduates attending baccalaureate colleges. The SAT isn't an option; it is required. My son said he was left with the impression that the College Board figures students have to take the test and will have to do what they are told to do -- that the College Board doesn't care what they think. Before Saturday I might have disagreed. Please note King County is the most populous county in Washington State, and the Pacific Northwest.
-- The College Board is an immensely profitable, albeit non-profit,organization;. In terms of full disclosure, let me share that I have just been elected to the Guidance and Admissions Committee of the Western Regional Assembly Council and will be at a several day meeting in Newport Beach at full College Board expense at the end of this month. I intend to broadly share my son's experience, and displeasure, with representatives of the College Board. My observations and stance will not be altered by my association with the College Board.
-- The College Board has the resources to have more test centers, to hire more proctors. If they are indicating that they can't secure the centers or a sufficient number of proctors there is a very simple solution: pay more money to do so. Do it right. The College Board has been under assault for most of my career in higher education: this might be a giant step in the direction of enhanced credibility.
-- Since the day is already being shot for these students (we got home ~3 p.m. and my first order of business was to feed my famished as well as exhausted son) why not start later in the day? Why not begin administering the test at 10 a.m. or 11 a.m.? The only possible rationale can be the interest in allowing test center administrators and proctors the opportunity for a free afternoon. Studies have proven that students concentrate better later in the day; anyone performs better on a test with sufficient sleep and a full stomach. This test is critical to these students' future; make the students' performance (and comfort, and convenience) the first priority.
-- The College Board needs to be straight up in its information to students: firm arrival time, firm start registration time; firm start test time; firm end time. Lay it all out in an agenda. Be professional. And for God's sake, tell the parents to pack the kid a nutritious lunch. Simple.Common.Sense. For some reason, eons ago, when I took the Regents examinations in New York State every student in the state started and ended the exact same examinations at the exact same time. And that was allegedly inefficient government bureaucracy at work, not an independent for profit organization-- and the latter in this era is supposed to be the prototype for efficiency and service. I don't buy it.