Originally published on genealogyatheart.blogspot.com on 30 Aug 2015.
I’ve been mentioning that several events occurred recently that really brought home the connection for me between education and genealogy, along with the impossibility of trying to find a nonexistent record. The records that I’m looking for today did exist once but is not easy to find.
The illustrious Florida legislatures (and I mean that with all the sarcasm that I can muster) passed a bill called Florida’s Best and Brightest Teacher Scholarship last spring which is not the best or brightest idea IMHO! Eligible teachers can earn an additional $10,000.00 bonus. Florida teachers are way underpaid compared to most of the rest of the states so this is a big chunk of change.
To “earn” the scholarship a teacher must be considered “highly effective.” Hubby and I get a great big check mark on that requirement.
Next eligibility condition is “…by October 1 official ACT or SAT documentation either that their score on the ACT was at or above the 80th percentile based on the rank in effect when the assessment was taken or that their scores on the SAT were at or above the 80th percentile based on the rank in effect when the assessment was taken” be provided to our school district.1
Hubby and I can’t find our Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) documentation. We took that exam, which wasn’t a requirement to enter college back in our day, about 43 plus years ago. I found copies of our Graduate Record Exam, National Board Certified Teacher scores, middle school achievement test results, report cards for every grade beginning in kindergarten, opened and sealed transcripts, and lots of awards but I can’t find our SAT scores.
This post isn’t about how idiotic it is to base a bonus on a test that was designed to measure success in college that was administered almost a half century ago. Not to mention how that particular test has been shown to be historically biased against many of the test takers, particularly minorities, women and those raised in lower income households. Nor is this post to discuss why the results of an obsolete test could demonstrate how accomplished at work an individual is today. Nope, this post is just about the difficulty in trying to obtain the record.
I called the College Board to see if I could get another copy of our test results. The automated message said the cost was $15.00 and for a $30.00 investment, hubby and I could receive $20,000. Wow, what a deal! After 45 minutes on hold I thought maybe we should just retake the exam so I looked up the next test date. Problem is, the next administration is October 3 so it’s too late for the October 1st deadline. I continued to wait on hold.
Finally, Russell #443 answered the call and was clearly confused when I asked him how far back records were kept. He didn’t know. I told him I need a copy of an exam I took in Spring 1973 as I wasn’t sure if I took the test in March or April. He stuttered a bit, clearly taken aback that someone would need the test results from that long ago, especially since no college would accept a test that old. I explained why I needed a copy.
Russell said the cost for an archival search was $31.00 with $11.00 for mailing and would take a minimum of 4 weeks. That might not make the October 1st deadline, either. Money is not refunded if they can’t find the test results.
I hate to spend money for the archiving fee because the College Board lost my son’s entire junior class’ PSAT scores a few years ago. I still don’t understand how that happened and I was really not happy that he wasn’t able to qualify for National Merit Scholar. School blamed College Board and College Board blamed school. Just another example of a record that should exist that unexplainably doesn’t any longer.
I can understand missing records due to war, fire, flood or other disaster but I can’t understand why an entire school’s paper records just vanishes. I bet they’re out they’re in cyberspace with the delayed text messages, lost postal mail and missing socks.
The State of Florida will be able to hold on to the bonus checks as I suspect few will be able to come up with their requirements. Laws like this just make me long for my next career as a full time genealogist!