1. What a Wonderful World of Diversity: Issues and Implications Martha L. Thurlow National Center on Educational Outcomes Accommodations in State Policies

2. Topics Frequency of use of assessment accommodations What policies/guidelines tell us Issues and implications

3. Frequency of Use? Tracking use of accommodations was difficult in the past Thurlow (2002) documented percentages using accommodations from 8% to 84% per state at a given school level.

4. States Capable of Reporting on Accommodations Use (2005) 46 regular states 2 unique states (26 regular and 2 unique can report on specific accommodations used)

5. State Policies and Guidelines Determine who may receive accommodations during testing Drive what is supposed to happen in state testing May or may not be related to what happens after K-12 education

6. Study of 2005 Accommodations Policy and Guidelines Searched Web sites of the 50 states (policies collected through January 15, 2005) Completed tables for all states and all accommodations (with notations) Sent data to state for verification (June 2005) Made changes only with written documentation

7. Who Receives Accommodations (besides IEP students)? 504 students (41 states) ELLs with IEPs (25 states) All students, with qualifications (6 states) All students (no qualifications) (2 states) Other (11 states)

8. Criteria Used to Guide Decisions

9. Criteria Not Used to Guide Decisions

10. What Happens When Needed Accommodations Are Not Listed? Number of States

11. Key to Current Policy Summaries A = Allowed A* = Allowed, but considered a non-standard accommodation (no implications for scoring or aggregation) AI = Allowed with implications for scoring and/or aggregation AC = Allowed in certain circumstances P = Prohibited

12. AA*ACAIAC/AIP Large Print4800000 Braille4501020 Sign Directions4301010 Read Aloud Direct.4111000 Repeat Directions3900010 Visual Cues2501020 Familiar Examiner2101000 Admin. by Others1701000 Sign Questions80190120 Addtl. Examples800010 Read Aloud Quest.26260110 Presentation Accommodations

13. AACAIAC/AIP Proctor/Scribe 356070 Write in Test Booklet 354100 Brailler 342110 Tape Recorder 335000 Computer/Mach. 2715020 Sign Responses 262020 Comm. Device 243010 Pointing 182010 Speech/Text Dev. 153010 Spell Checker 136282 Response Accommodations

14. AACAIAC/AIP With Breaks411100 Extended Time413010 Time Beneficial to Student 370000 Multiple Sessions235000 Over Multiple Days 173101 Scheduling/Timing Accommodations

15. AACAIAC/AIP Individual450000 Small Group450000 Carrel351000 Seat Location331000 Separate Room311000 Minimize Dist.190000 Student’s Home176100 Special Ed. Classroom131000 Setting Accommodations

16. States with Access Assistant Guidelines 10 33 26 20

17. Access Assistants – differences in what is included (e.g., scribe) Is assistant familiar to student or certified person? Can test be viewed before administration? Can scribe spell and punctuate first, then student fixes?

18. Issue: Research-based Practice Accommodations research is notorious for providing different outcomes. There are many reasons for this related to the complications of conducting the research.

19. Issue: Decision-making Challenges Despite criteria to be used to make decisions and not to be used to make decisions about accommodations, it is still difficult for educators to determine what accommodations students need.

20. Issue: What Happens When Non- Allowed Accommodations are Used? In the past, this has been a hidden issue. Some states quietly gave students scores of zero when they used an accommodation that the state said was not allowed or was a “modification.” Other states did nothing.

21. Now, State Policies Do Interact with Federal Policies December 15, 2005 NPRM indicated that reports on assessment must include only the number of children provided accommodations that did not invalidate the score – “Title I regulations would only consider a student to be a participant for AYP purposes if his or her assessment results in a valid score.”

22. Issue: K-12 Versus Post- Secondary Policies There is little evidence that K-12 policies have been influenced by post-secondary policies. In fact, there seems to be quite a disconnect.

23. Issue: Designing Assessments to Alleviate Accommodation Issues The notions of universal design or more accessible assessments have been held up as the solution to many of our accommodations issues – is there any evidence that this is going to work?

24. Implications: More Work New research approaches (by item) Professional development needed (for improved decision making) Auditing and follow necessary (for better implementation) Continued improvement of assessments essential