Word: slacked
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Armed with extensive statistical evidence, culled mostly from ETS's own studies, Slack and Porter have since used every opportunity to preach that message. They acknowledge that their appearances at academic conferences and on radio and television talk shows haven't as yet turned admissions offices upside down; but like other test reformers, they point to the five-year battle over disclosure and predict ultimate success...
...Slack, an associate professor of Medicine, serves as co-director of the Computer Medicine Laboratory at Beth Isreal Hospital, where Porter is a principal associate. They share, in Porter's words, "a keen interest in the formation and use of questions" and work together on ways to broaden the computer's ability not only to store and transfer medical information, but also to diagnose illness and prescribe treatment by communicating with patients and doctors...
They also share a general skepticism of exercises described as "aptitude" tests and advertised as being impervious to specific preparation. When ETS challenged Slack's 1977 article with the findings of "all known studies," Slack and Porter requested copies of said studies and went to work checking up on the claims of the Princeton, N.J.-based firm. "We went in assuming the research they did wasn't all that good," says Slack. "What we didn't know was that they had consistently misrepresented and omitted information...
...brief, here are the arguments Slack and Porter make, along with responses from ETS and the College Board...
...Harvard-affiliated doctors accuse the test makers of implying in technical publications and literature for students that test preparation has less of an impact on scores than studies have shown. Moreover, Slack and Porter argue, ETS has only recently begun to distinguish between short-term "coaching," which it calls ineffective, and long-term "intensive training," which it now concedes can raise scores. Before making this distinction, Slack and Porter say, ETS misled students into thinking that even a school year's worth of special preparation would not affect math or verbal aptitude as measured by the SAT. Cameron...