Accommodations in education full#

(2020) reviewed school psychologists’ evaluation reports for 130 students, to determine what services these professionals recommended. The most common accommodations were extended time to complete tests and assignments, and having tests read aloud and in a small group setting. Collectively, the IEP documents listed 1,840 accommodations for these students.

(2019) inspected the special education plans (IEP documents) of 222 students in secondary school, most of whom had diagnoses of a learning disability, an emotional/behavioral disorder, or a health impairment.

Recent research finds that the vast majority of students with disabilities receive accommodations, and it appears that accommodations are more frequently recommended and implemented than evidence-based interventions are. In the United States, it appears that accommodations are the most common response to disability diagnoses in school settings. In contrast, interventions attempt to change the student’s skill levels, so that the student can participate in a school’s instruction and assessment practices in their typical delivery formats. These accommodations would not change the content of the test or curriculum, just their delivery.Īccommodations can be distinguished from interventions, in that accommodations are designed to adjust the task requirements for a student in some way, without directly altering the student’s skill levels. Similarly, the student might be given preferential seating during instruction, always being seated close to the teacher, to help the student focus on the teacher and not be distracted by peers.

Accommodations in education full#

For instance, a student with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) might be permitted to take tests in a separate location, due to concerns that the student is unusually prone to distraction, and that their performance would be unduly affected by taking the test in a typical classroom full of ambient noises. 1 Such accommodations are frequently provided to students who have been diagnosed with disabilities. Implications for practice are discussed.Įducational accommodations are alterations made to the delivery of instruction or testing, while keeping the essential content the same ( Lovett and Lewandowski, 2015). Second, when students from less privileged backgrounds are given accommodations, the incentive for schools to provide academic remediation, compensatory strategies, and coping skills is lessened, leaving these students in a worse position when accommodations are not available outside of educational settings.

First, students from privileged backgrounds are more likely to receive certain accommodations even without adequate evidence of need this can provide an unfair boost in performance and widen gaps among students.

However, research on current accommodations practices raises two distinct equity-related concerns. One purpose of accommodations is to improve educational equity, putting all students on equal footing. For instance, students might be given a copy of class notes or provided additional time to complete a test. School Psychology Program, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY, United StatesĮducational accommodations are frequently given to students with disabilities.