Testing Accommodations on Local Assessments

Accommodations are provided based on student needs identified in the 504 or IEP whenever the accommodation does not impede the validity of the assessment. Students are NEVER allowed to have reading passages read to them for reading assessments of any kind. This would invalidate a reading assessment. Students who have reading accommodations may have some testing supports as outlined below. For blind students, please contact Michelle Day, Special Education Director or Shoni Johnson, Curriculum & Assessment Director for further assistance. If you have questions about accommodations on state assessments, please contact the Special Education office.

All testing requires a CWCS proctor.

Scantron:

Reading: A reading accommodation (read-aloud) is NOT allowed for the Reading assessment (even by a human reader)

** If you have a student who cannot read they can take the Foundational Reading assessment in EdPerformance.

Math: Screen readers are available and already turned on for Math. A (read-aloud) accommodation is allowed for the Mathematics assessments. A (read-aloud) accommodation may be provided via a screen reader, or by a human reader. If the reading accommodation is provided by a human reader, the test must be administered in a 1:1 setting with a CWCS proctor. Students receiving a read-aloud accommodation via a screen reader with the use of headphones may take the assessment either in a small group or in a regular class setting (i.e. Library or Resource Center). If headphones are not used, the test must be administered in a 1:1 setting with a CWCS proctor.

*** Text-to-Speech is not the same as a screen reader. A screen reader is used mostly by a student with very low vision and/or blindness. A screen reader uses a synthesized computer voice and reads text in a choppy format that is not as smooth as the text-to-speech format. The screen reader option is available for the Mathematics tests only. Students may have extended time as this assessment is not timed.

AIMSWeb Check:

These "check-ins" are normed without accommodations. Reading accommodations are not allowed on the checks, even math. Extended time does not improve a student's growth rate, and therefore is not allowed.

Because you are using the same time limit at each administration, you are able to compare the data to determine growth. Extending time will not change that growth data on the student as it is all relative. Like the medical profession uses a thermometer as indicator of patient health, CBM tools"take the temperature" of a student's general abilities across a variety of domains (reading, math, spelling, etc.). Just like leaving a thermometer in longer than the required time does not give you better information, generally speaking, increasing the length of time for probe completion will not either.

WRAT4:

Follow the assessment procedures in the WRAT4 Administrators' Guide to know when to provide assists to the students. You may also revisit the WRAT Training Video.

Again, if you have an extreme circumstance that you feel isn't addressed above, you may contact Michelle Day, Special Education Director or Shoni Johnson, Curriculum & Assessment Director for further assistance.