Thanks to the generous support of our donors, Disability Rights Advocates is pleased to make available on our website and in our offices the work of artists from the National Institute of Art & Disabilities (NIAD). NIAD provides an art program that promotes creativity, independence, dignity, and community integration for people with developmental and other disabilities.
In a case that received major national attention, Disability Rights Advocates (DRA) and the College Board announced a settlement in mid-July 2002 under which the College Board agreed to stop its practice of "flagging" test scores on the SAT, PSAT, and Advanced Placement tests when test takers use the accommodation of extended time. The extraordinary settlement was negotiated after a national panel of experts, who were jointly selected by DRA and the College Board, studied the issue of flagging on the SAT. The panel recommended that the practice be discontinued because of its discriminatory impact on test takers with disabilities and because it was not psychometrically justified. The use of a national panel of experts, jointly agreed to by both parties, is a "signature" mechanism often proposed by DRA as a way of efficiently and fairly resolving litigation that would benefit from the input of experts from a variety of disciplines.
Flagging is the practice by which administrators of standardized tests place notations on the score reports of people with disabilities who take the exams with accommodations for their disabilities. Since its implementation decades ago, the practice of flagging has been controversial (the federal judge in our case called it a "scarlet letter") with disability groups pointing out that the flag is discriminatory and that the flag has a chilling effect that discourages students from even asking for appropriate accommodations.
Shortly after the announcement of the settlement, the ACT announced that it too would stop flagging test scores on its college entrance examination.
| Blue Ribbon Panel: Majority Report | [ Text ] | [ PDF ] |
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