It’s safe to say scrutiny of our higher education system has heightened since the well-known celebrity college admissions scandal broke earlier this year. But there’s a new focus for those seeking to end abuse of the system: testing accommodations for those with diagnosed disabilities.
Investigations in the wake of the celebrity scandal revealed that mastermind William Singer leveraged false disability diagnoses to help his wealthy clients game the system. He first instructed families to get their children evaluated by a psychologist to obtain a learning disability diagnosis. Then, Singer used the solitary rooms test administrators grant for these diagnoses to help his clients cheat on the SAT and ACT.
Though Singer’s efforts earned him infamy and criminal charges, these tactics are not uncommon. Many other parents are pulling the same scam in a less obvious (and not-yet-illegal) way.
The prevalence of learning disability diagnoses has risen sharply over the last five years. Currently, 1 in 5 students have diagnosed “learning and attention issues such as dyslexia and ADHD,” according to the National Center for Learning Disabilities. A whopping 39% of students receive some sort of special education for their learning disability.
Here’s the tell: These learning disability diagnoses are disproportionately concentrated in wealthy communities.
The share of high school students with 504 plans — a specialized education plan for those diagnosed with a learning disability — is more than double the national average in the country’s most affluent areas. In some, often wealthy, communities, more than 1 in 10 students have a 504 plan.
Families sometimes pay thousands for these diagnoses, which potentially set their children further apart from their peers by granting them extra time on standardized tests, private testing rooms, and other accommodations. And it’s worth noting that benefiting students are already more likely to already have access to private tutors, better neighborhood schools, and more social capital in their communities.
Scholars disagree about whether learning disabilities are overdiagnosed today or if they were underdiagnosed in the past. Regardless, the fact that diagnoses are higher in wealthy communities is a clear warning sign, and in light of the celebrity admissions scandal, should give anyone who values meritocracy in education pause.
Kate Hardiman is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential Blog. She taught high school in Chicago for two years while earning her M.Ed. and is now a J.D. candidate at Georgetown University Law Center.
