[blindlaw] text of LSAC's letter to accompany non-standard LSAT administration

[T. Joseph Carter]

There is certainly an implication there, Haben, you are correct.

Standard scores come generally have a confidence interval--basically 
a plus or minus so many points.  When you add a variable, you 
increase the size of that margin of error.  A high score is still a 
high score.  It's just got a larger margin of error, and LSAC would 
not know precisely how large that margin is because they didn't 
bother to account for this variable.

A direct comparison of a score from a test under conditions different 
than the normalization sample to one given under standard conditions 
cannot be guaranteed to be valid.  Law schools know what good and bad 
LSAT scores look like.  A given non-standard score can be either a 
bit worse or a bit better than the same standard score, and you can't 
really know which it is.

That's a big deal until you simply group scores into categories such 
as "high", "average", and "low", with a few scores being in between 
these broad categories.  By the time you do that, you've more than 
accounted for the extra variability.

Joseph
Math Nerd


On Sun, May 17, 2009 at 01:22:05AM -0700, Haben Girma wrote:
>
> The letter implies that the score of a disabled person on an LSAT is  
> meaningless if it was taken in nonstandard conditions since it cannot be  
> compared to other scores. Then are the LSAT scores of blind test takers,  
> who request extra time, respected by law schools? They don't seem  
> respected by the LSAC.
>
> The whole point of the LSAT is to compare one student's reasoning and  
> comprehension skills with other prospective students. If the LSAC  
> implies tests taken in nonstandard conditions are meaningless, then  
> taking the LSAT, for a blind person, becomes a mere gesture. Why would a  
> law school admit a blind student when the student's LSAT score comes  
> with this doubt-producing letter?
>
> Haben
>
> Stephanie Enyart wrote:
>> Hello all,
>> Since Haben asked about the type of communication that will accompany any
>> non-standard test (any test taken with extended time due to a disability)
>> here is a copy of what the LSAC sends with the score report to law schools:
>>
>> "Dear Colleague:
>> This candidate took a __fill in test date___ LSAT under nonstandard timing
>> conditions in order to accommodate his or her disability. The nonstandard
>> test this candidate received was administered on or about the same test date
>> as the corresponding standard administration.
>> Because this candidate's score was earned under nonstandard timing
>> conditions, it is important to note that the degree of comparability of this
>> score to scores earned under standard conditions cannot be determined. The
>> LSAC's Cautionary Policies Concerning LSAT Scores and Related Services
>> explain:
>> LSAC has no data to demonstrate that scores earned under accommodated
>> conditions have the same meaning as scores earned under standard conditions.
>> Because the LSAT has not been validated in its various accommodated forms,
>> accommodated tests are identified as nonstandard, and an individual's scores
>> from accommodated tests are not averaged with scores from tests taken under
>> standard conditions. The fact that accommodations were granted for the LSAT
>> should not be dispositive evidence that accommodations should be granted
>> once a test taker becomes a student. The accommodation needed for a one-day
>> multiple choice test may be different from those needed for law school
>> course work and examinations."