2008 Woodie Awards
SAT folly not a problem for WU
By: Stephanie Covington
Issue date: 4/6/06 Section: News
- Page 1 of 1
March 23 the College Board released information regarding the 495,000 SAT tests that were taken in October 2005. According to College Board representatives, a technical glitch in the scanning process resulted in 27,000 tests that were not checked.
As a result, 4,411 received incorrect low scores on the reasoning section of the exam.
"The scanner failed to pick up some answers off the answer sheets," said Brian O'Reilley, executive director for SAT information services for the College Board.
O'Reilley said confusion came about when only about 4,000 tests were initially reported March 17 to the College Board as not being fully scanned. The scanning vendor, Pearson Educational Measurement, contacted the College Board about the problems initially. However, it was later discovered that an additional 375 tests had been missed in the original count of unchecked tests.
"About a week later, the vendor admitted to us that 27,000 had not yet completed the process," O'Reilley said.
O'Reilley said after the problem was identified, all 495,000 tests were re-scanned for accuracy.
Webster's Director of Undergraduate Admissions, Niel DeVasto, said less than a quarter of freshman at Webster take the SAT. He said he knows of only one Webster student that has to submit a corrected score from the October 2005 testing.
"Variance on most of the tests was only 10 to 20 points," DeVasto said of the corrected score results.
DeVasto said a student, for example may have gotten a score of 560 on the test after the correction as apposed to a score of 540, which wouldn't have a great impact on applying for colleges.
DeVasto said the problem has probably been a bigger issue for high schools than for colleges. He said because of the low number of Webster SAT test takers, the problem hasn't made a big difference in the admissions processes overall.
All students affected by the incorrect scores were sent notification via e-mail and mailed corrected score reports March 24. Colleges affected by the score changes were contacted by the College Board.
As a result, 4,411 received incorrect low scores on the reasoning section of the exam.
"The scanner failed to pick up some answers off the answer sheets," said Brian O'Reilley, executive director for SAT information services for the College Board.
O'Reilley said confusion came about when only about 4,000 tests were initially reported March 17 to the College Board as not being fully scanned. The scanning vendor, Pearson Educational Measurement, contacted the College Board about the problems initially. However, it was later discovered that an additional 375 tests had been missed in the original count of unchecked tests.
"About a week later, the vendor admitted to us that 27,000 had not yet completed the process," O'Reilley said.
O'Reilley said after the problem was identified, all 495,000 tests were re-scanned for accuracy.
Webster's Director of Undergraduate Admissions, Niel DeVasto, said less than a quarter of freshman at Webster take the SAT. He said he knows of only one Webster student that has to submit a corrected score from the October 2005 testing.
"Variance on most of the tests was only 10 to 20 points," DeVasto said of the corrected score results.
DeVasto said a student, for example may have gotten a score of 560 on the test after the correction as apposed to a score of 540, which wouldn't have a great impact on applying for colleges.
DeVasto said the problem has probably been a bigger issue for high schools than for colleges. He said because of the low number of Webster SAT test takers, the problem hasn't made a big difference in the admissions processes overall.
All students affected by the incorrect scores were sent notification via e-mail and mailed corrected score reports March 24. Colleges affected by the score changes were contacted by the College Board.