There are many ways in which accommodations can be used to support students with disabilities in the classroom and when they are taking a mandated state or district assessment.
|
Other Helpful Resources for IEP Teams
All in all, despite a fairly large research base, the high degree of contradictory and inconclusive findings offer little in the way of solid guidance for educators who must make decisions about accommodations that will support their students. Nonetheless, a number of useful tools have been developed that recognize the challenges and significance of choosing appropriate accommodations. The list below is by no means comprehensive but may provide practical guidance to those seeking help in this area.2
Online Accommodations Bibliography
http://education.umn.edu/nceo/
AccomStudies.htm
Courtesy of NCEO, search and find both the range of possible accommodations and what empirical research studies have to say about the effects of various testing accommodations for students with disabilities.
Special Topic Area: Accommodations for Students with Disabilities
http://www.education.umn.edu/
NCEO/TopicAreas/Accommodations
/Accomtopic.htm
The National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO) answers frequently asked questions about testing accommodations for students with disabilities, connects you with state policies and state research in this area, and offers an impressive number of research-based publications to guide policy and decision making.
Online Accommodations Bibliography http://education.umn.edu/nceo/
AccomStudies.htm
Courtesy of NCEO, search and find both the range of possible accommodations and what empirical research studies have to say about the effects of various testing accommodations for students with disabilities.
Putting it All Together: Including Students with Disabilities in Assessment and Accountability Systems:
http://www.education.umn.edu/
NCEO/OnlinePubs/Policy16.htm
This is just one of many informative publications from NCEO related to the participation of students with disabilities on large-scale assessments.
Assessment Accommodations Checklist (AAC):
http://www.ctb.com/
Developed by Stephen Elliott at the Wisconsin Center for Education Research, this practical tool groups 74 common accommodations into 8 different categories (e.g., motivation, scheduling, directions, adaptive technology). Educators can rate potential usefulness of various accommodations based on their knowledge of individual student needs. Published by CTB/McGraw- Hill
Dynamic Assessment of Test Accommodations (DATA):
http://harcourtassessment.com
Developed by Lynn Fuchs and others at Vanderbilt University, DATA is an attempt to establish a standardized approach for choosing valid accommodations for students. Published by Harcourt Assessment
2Please note that resources provided here are for informational purposes only. NICHCY does not specifically endorse any of these over other resources that may not be included here. Readers are encouraged to explore these and other relevant resources to determine which is most helpful. Find a resource that works for you? Let us know about it at nichcy@aed.org |
Accommodations in Presentation affect the way directions and content are delivered to students. Students with visual, hearing, and learning disabilities are much more able to engage in the content when it is presented in a form they can understand. Some examples of accommodations in presentation include:
- Oral reading (either by an adult or a tape)
- Large print
- Magnification devices
- Sign language
- Braille and Nemeth Code (a specific type of Braille used for math and science notations)
- Tactile graphics (e.g.; 3-D topographical maps, 2-D raised line drawings)
- Manipulatives (e.g.; geometric solids, real coins & currency, abacus)
- Audio amplification devices (e.g., hearing aids)
- Screen reader
(Adapted from Special Connections, 2005b1)
Accommodations in Response offer different ways for students to respond to assessment questions. They help students with visual and hearing impairments, physical disabilities, and organizational problems to structure, monitor, or directly put words to paper. Examples of these accommodations include:
- Using a computer/typewriter or a scribe to record answers (directly or through tape recorder)
- Using an augmentative communication device or other assistive technology (AT)
- Using a brailler
- Responding directly in the test booklet rather than on an answer sheet
- Using organizational devices, including calculation devices, spelling and grammar assistive devices, visual organizers, or graphic organizers
(Adapted from Special Connections, 2005c)
Accommodations in Setting affect either where a test is taken or the way in which the environment is set up. Changing the environment is especially helpful to students who are easily distracted. Some examples include:
- Administering the test individually (e.g., to the student alone)
- Testing in a separate room
- Testing in a small group
- Adjusting the lighting
- Providing noise buffers such as headphones, earphones, or earplugs
(Adapted from Special Connections, 2005d)
Accommodations in Timing/Scheduling allow flexibility in the timing of an assessment. Generally, these are chosen for students who may need more time to process information or need breaks throughout the testing process to regroup and refocus. Timing/scheduling accommodations include:
- Extended time
- Multiple or frequent breaks
- Change in testing schedule or order of subjects
- Testing over multiple days
(Adapted from Special Connections, 2005e)
When determining accommodations, particular attention should be paid to ensure that they do not give one student an unfair advantage over another, or alter or compromise the test's ability to assess particular knowledge or skills. For example, providing a test in Braille to a student with a significant visual impairment would not seem to provide an unfair advantage over a sighted peer participating in a standard administration of the test. Having an adult read aloud questions on a math assessment may not necessarily alter the math concepts being assessed, but having the same adult read aloud on a test of reading comprehension does have the effect of changing the assessment from one of reading comprehension to one of listening comprehension and, in effect, results in the assessment of a different skill altogether.
How is the IEP team to judge whether an accommodation represents an unfair advantage for a student or is going to inappropriately alter the nature of the test? Conventional wisdom holds that, if nondisabled students also make gains when given the same accommodation (e.g., extra time on a test) as students with disabilities, then there are questions about fairness and integrity in the testing situation (Sireci, Li, & Scarpati, 2003). As researchers and policy makers continue to wrestle with these complex issues, IEP teams will need to stay current as policies and recommended practices evolve.
1Categorizing accommodations into the well-known categories of presentation, response, timing/scheduling, and setting appears in Cortiella, C. (2005). NCLB: Determining appropriate assessment accommodations for students with disabilities. New York: National Center for Learning Disabilities. Available online at: http://cehd.umn.edu/nceo/OnlinePubs/NCLD/Accommodations.pdf