Colleges Bend the Rules for More Students, Give Them Extra Help. With an influx of students classified as disabled, schools move to accommodate their needs.

The Wall Street Journal reports:

More than a decade ago, the College Board, which administers the SAT and PSAT among other tests, stopped alerting colleges when students received extra time, and the numbers who requested it began to increase. From 2010-11 to last year, the number of accommodations requests jumped 171%, while the number of people taking the exams increased 22%. Last year, 94% of those requests were approved.

The extra time allows students to use various strategies to reduce stress levels so they can overcome their disabilities, administrators say. Without them, many wouldn’t graduate, says Monique Burgdorf, the assistant dean of students and interim director of disability resources at Oberlin.

“If I have anxiety and get panic attacks during exams, extended time will give me a chance to check in with myself and calm myself down,” Ms. Burgdorf says.

Miriam Kurtzig Freedman, an attorney who has represented public schools in special-education and disability law and has written several books about accommodations, said that giving some test takers extended time on the SAT is “like lowering the basket from 10 feet to 8 feet; you’re changing the game.”

Standards really are lower today... as more people claim to be "disabled".