The college admissions scandal that ensnared Stanford and other California universities revealed the lengths that some parents will go, including cheating and breaking the law, to obtain high scores for their kids on the SAT or ACT. But experts say the tests have long been a source of problems, as intense pressure to ace them can push parents and students alike into murky ethical and legal waters. The controversy comes as an increasing number of universities across the country make the tests optional, concluding that they are given too much weight in the process, and that colleges should rely more on grades, coursework, student activities, leadership roles and other examples of achievement.

Still, the tests remain a central part of the college application process, and most of the elite universities caught up in the admissions scam require them and have average scores in the stratosphere. The federal case, dubbed Operation Varsity Blues, exposed just how far families will go to get the best scores out of what is supposed to be a secure and standardized testing system, said Bob Schaeffer, public education director of Fair test and a longtime critic of the testing industry. Some pay for expensive test prep or tutors, while others concoct intricate plans to get advance copies of tests, or, like those arrested in the scandal, bribe their way to better scores.
“This shines a light on the most egregious and illegal aspects of that continuum,” Schaeffer said.

The ringleader in the nationwide college admission scandal, Rick Singer, profited from parents’ singular drive to get their children admitted to top universities, and their belief that the kids couldn’t do it on their own. In a wiretapped phone call described in federal documents, he told a parent how his scam worked — that a bribed test proctor would fix the daughter’s answers on the ACT or SAT to get whatever score the family wanted. The scheme required the students to get diagnosed with a bogus learning disorder or other disability to get extra time to take the exam, and the ability to take it in an isolated room, where the bribed proctor would oversee the exam.

Some parents and researchers have long complained that families can game the system with an ill-gotten diagnosis to get the extra time — in itself enough to help a student score better. A California state audit in 2000, for example, found that private school students took the SAT with accommodations at four times the rate of public school students. And the rate of students using an accommodation on the SAT this year has increased to 4 percent, up from 1.5 percent in 2012, according the College Board, which administers the test.

The federal charging document includes detailed accounts of families obtaining a fake diagnosis of a learning disability. In one case, Singer told a client about a psychologist who, for $4,000 to $5,000, would provide the medical documentation needed to get the daughter the special accommodations. He also said the daughter should “be stupid” during the assessment for disabilities. Fraudulently claiming a disability for any means undermines the real needs of those with disabilities, said Beth McGaw, president of the Learning Disabilities Association of American.

“These actions hurt all individuals with disabilities,” she said, “including those with learning disabilities, by perpetuating the misperception that many students who obtain accommodations on college admissions do not have disabilities and that this abuse is widespread.” The role the ACT and SAT exams played in the scandal could add momentum to the trend to minimize the role of standardized tests in the admission process, college officials said last week. As of January, about 1,000 universities and colleges — among them a handful of highly selective schools including Bowdoin and Pitzer — have made the standardized tests optional, according to FairTest.

The University of California formed a task force earlier this year to look at standardized testing in the admission process, to evaluate the “strengths and weaknesses,” and ask “what can be done better,” said Henry Sanchez, professor of pathology at UCSF and chairman of the committee. The schemes exposed by the federal investigation will probably be among the issues raised by the task force, Sanchez said.“We want to maintain the highest integrity,” he said. “The integrity of the system is critical.”

The test scores, however, remain a significant factor when reviewing the 177,000 UC freshman admission applications each year.High school senior Kamiah Brown, 17, would welcome such a review. She started preparing for the SAT when she was a freshman. “I worked really hard to get a good score,” she said. A student at San Francisco’s Wallenberg High School, Kamiah applied to 24 universities this school year, including competitive colleges like Fordham and George Washington. Knowing she could have been up against students whose parents rigged the system made her sad — and angry.

“To see someone who has success handed to them, wow,” she said. “You have to earn it.” So far, she’s been accepted to 10 universities and is waiting on word from Brown, her first choice. While Brown requires ACT or SAT scores, many of the colleges Kamiah applied to are test-optional, she said, which she appreciated. The test scores, the college-bound senior said, don’t really show what a student knows or who she is — and the scandal demonstrated that they aren’t always real.“I didn’t have the resources to pay my way in or get a perfect score,” she said. “But I did join organizations to become a better leader and to become smarter and more knowledgeable.”

Cheating scandals have plagued the testing system in recent years.Last week, the College Board canceled the SAT exam that had been scheduled for Saturday in Saudi Arabia, Morocco and Egypt over a “test security matter.” Similar cancellations have occurred in other countries, including China, Macao and Korea, where there were concerns about advance copies of the exam circulating among test takers. In 2011, 20 kids were caught in a cheating ring that included students each paying impersonators $3,500 to take the SAT or ACT for them.

“The College Board has a comprehensive, robust approach to combat cheating, and as part of that effort we work closely with law enforcement, as we did in this investigation,” the SAT testing organization said. “We will always take all necessary steps to ensure a level playing field for the overwhelming majority of test takers who are honest and play by the rules.” The nonprofit that oversees the ACT also defended its efforts to address cheating. “ACT contracts with thousands of people to locally administer the ACT around the country,” officials said in a statement.

“These individuals certify to follow ACT’s policies and procedures to administer the ACT test. In these cases, the two charged individuals allegedly did not follow ACT’s rules.”While the federal case alleges organized racketeering, it’s unclear how common cheating is on an individual basis — with students copying answers from a seatmate, or using secretly stashed phones or other technology like microphones in buttons and tiny earbuds to communicate questions and get correct answers, Schaeffer said.Online tutorials are readily available to help students find ways to cheat on the tests.“Test security has not caught up with modern technology,” he added.

Schaeffer said he’s also not surprised that test administrators or proctors — who are often teachers or administrators at the schools where tests are given — were in on the scam.“They’re overworked and underpaid,” he said, noting those involved in the scam received $15,000 in some cases to change a student’s answers. “The promise of five digits will compromise some.” In other words, Schaeffer said, the scores are subject to expensive test prep, private tutors or bribed proctors. “Well-to-do people buy their kids all kinds of advantages,” Schaeffer said. “These so-called objective numbers are very easily manipulated in a way that creates a tilted playing field.”