Scores for new PSAT are finally out. What to know about them (and what they mean for redesigned SAT) - The Washington Post

Scores for new PSAT are finally out. What to know about them (and what they mean for redesigned SAT) - The Washington Post:
Scores for new PSAT are finally out. What to know about them (and what they mean for redesigned SAT)

The College Board has just released PSAT scores — months after the tests were actually taken in high schools. Students received the scores, though many counselors who were supposed to get them have had trouble doing so. Problems with score delivery has also plagued the SAT this past fall, frustrating students and counselors.

(The PSAT, for those who might not know, is the Preliminary SAT, taken by a few million sophomores and juniors every year as a warm-up for the SAT, which used to be the most popular college admissions exam but is now No. 2 behind the ACT. PSAT results are used to qualify students for the National Merit Scholarship program.)

Sandra Riley, vice president for communications at the College Board, said a new online scoring system created to accommodate scoring reports for the newly designed SAT, which is launching this coming spring, is to blame. She said that initial testing did not reveal “large-scale issues” but a series of “small issues” that are being fixed as they present themselves.

But counselors expressed concerns on the discussion board of the National Association for College Admissions Counselors, including Jane S. Mathias, director of guidance at Nardin Academy in Buffalo, N.Y., and former president of the New York State Association for College Admission Counseling. She recently wrote (and gave me permission to publish):

“I do not often post here, but I am hoping that my voice might lead others to contact the College Board and let them hear more than our up until now polite responses to the inquiries we have been making all fall.

“I sent an email to the College Board last night after reading the email we received concerning the latest delay. It probably went into a giant folder of will-not-reply email, but I am wondering how many high school counselors are as angry as I am about the failure of the electronic reporting system, which continues still, and the latest delay in scores (PSAT’s were “promised” for 

Scores for new PSAT are finally out. What to know about them (and what they mean for redesigned SAT) - The Washington Post: