WASHINGTON — The company that administers SAT tests has come under fire from local students and parents.
On June 6, children were allegedly barred from tests due to issues with entry tickets generated by nonprofit Educational Testing Service.
Admission tickets are supposed to include photos for in-person comparisons to prevent fraud. Some students’ tickets either had no photo, or the picture on the ticket was rejected by on-site proctors on test day.
“They’re very particular about what kind of photo you need to submit, they give you examples of acceptable and unacceptable,” says Diane Johnson of Edgewater, Maryland.
Johnson’s 16-year-old son, Pierce, was barred from taking the test at South River High School because his ticket had no picture.
“They asked how I had submitted his photo,” his mother recalls. “I said I had used a MacBook, and he said that they’d been having issues with photos submitted on a Mac.”
That telephone exchange with an ETS employee makes Johnson wonder why greater steps aren’t being taken to prevent inappropriate tickets from being sent to students.
“I don’t know why they don’t have a quality control person,” Johnson says.
Also on June 6, students were reportedly barred from taking the SAT in northwest Washington.
“This is my worst nightmare,” student Kiersten Pels told FOX5.
At Wilson High School, the proctor said her ticket image was inappropriate because it didn’t show her right ear, Pels recalls.
After police were called, Pels says she and other students were allowed into the school to take the test.
Pierce Johnson, however, has to wait until October to take his test. That will cost an additional $28 fee. Still, his mother is grateful there’s still time.
“If Pierce had been in his junior year, and this was required for the college application, he’d be in a bad situation,” she says.
ETS officials haven’t returned requests for comment.
