School bells raised an alarm for some students and parents at Habersham Central High School recently after the bells repeatedly rang during the Scholastic Aptitude Test. The bell foul-up happened during testing on January 24.
Parent Ken Ruddell says he was “personally outraged” by the repeated interruptions during the 5 hour test. “My three kids were tormented by this alarm, as were all of the children there,” Ruddell says. “Try writing a timed essay with that in your ears – not possible. Try figuring out math problems or reading.”
Habersham County’s Director of Secondary Schools Pam Dalton says, typically, bells are deactivated on weekends and, by default, during SAT testing because the test is always administered on a Saturday. She says the bells that rang last weekend took the students and test administrators by surprise. “We suspect that the bells rang due to recent work that had been performed on the system,” Dalton explains.
Dalton says the staff member who coordinates the test is filing a report with the Educational Testing Service (ETS) but does not anticipate it will be considered a major disruption. “Interruptions of this type (lasting less than 10 minutes) are not required to be reported as testing irregularities to the state assessment division during state-mandated tests.” Although the SAT is not a state-mandated test, Dalton says similar guidelines apply.
The SAT stakes are high. Many colleges base their admissions on student SAT scores.
Ruddell says his three children are taking the ACT next month, but last Saturday was the only time they’ll take the SAT. “There is no doubt their performance was adversely impacted, how much, is yet to be determined,” he says.
While there’s nothing that can change the situation for his kids, Ruddell says he hopes other students who take the SAT in Habersham won’t face similar disruptons in the future. “Someone needs to assure our students that this won’t ever happen again.”
Make up tests for SATs are not allowed once the student has tested. They can re-take the test as often as they like but must pay each time they do. Habersham County is one of many testing sites located throughout the state.
The SAT will be administered again at Habersham Central on May 2.
