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ABSTRACT
Testing accommodations allow students with disabilities to both participate in and demonstrate their knowledge and abilities on statewide assessments. This article discusses accommodation-related research findings of a 3-year federally funded research study. The data analysis includes an examination of accommodation policies and discipline rates in all 50 states, participation rates in states for which data were available, and the relationships among these data as indicated by statistical correlations. Also, a detailed discussion of the proctor/scribe accommodation is included, because it correlated more strongly with higher participation rates than any other specific accommodation. Implications of these findings for students, parents, policymakers, and practitioners are discussed.
THE INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES EDUCATION Act (IDEA) of 1997 requires that all states ensure that students with disabilities are included in state and local educational assessment and accountability systems. Specifically, IDEA requires that "students with disabilities be included in general state and districtwide assessment programs, with appropriate accommodations, where necessary" (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Amendments of 1997, sec. 612(a)(17)(A)). Moreover, Title I directives with regard to state accountability systems require that any results obtained on the performance of students with disabilities must be included in school accountability calculations. More recently, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) has increased demands that students with disabilities perform to grade-level standards. This legislative emphasis on including students with disabilities in statewide assessments and counting their scores for accountability determinations provided the impetus for this research study. To determine the impact of including students with disabilities in statewide assessments, education personnel and government officials must have access to reliable state-by-state data pertaining to the assessment of students with disabilities.
Testing accommodations are vital when considering these recent legislative requirements. Accommodations are changes in the administration of assessments that allow students with disabilities to demonstrate what they know and can do without affecting the validity of the assessment. The basic concept behind accommodations is to level the proverbial playing field by providing students with disabilities the opportunity to take state assessments without their disability or disabilities hindering their ability to succeed on the tests. An obvious example is providing a Braille version of an assessment to a child with a visual impairment, who clearly cannot take and pass the standard version...