Accommodations and Modifications – IEP Accommodations

1

2

Some important laws require students with disabilities to participate in

standards-based instruction and assessment. These include federal laws

such as the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) and the Individuals

with Disabilities in Education Act, (IDEA). Both laws state that assessments

should be completed with reasonable and appropriate accommodations, and

documented in the student’s IEP.

3

Accommodations are practices and procedures in the areas of

administration, response, setting, and timing that provide equitable access

during instruction and assessments for students with disabilities.

4

Accommodations are intended to reduce or even eliminate the effects of a

student’s disability. They should “level the playing field,” making academic

abilities of students with disabilities the same or similar to their peers.

Accommodations do not, however, reduce learning expectations. They

provide access. The accommodations provided for a student should be the

same for classroom instruction, classroom assessments, and state and

district-wide assessments.

5

One accommodation category is administration. Administration

accommodations are defined as allowing students access to information in

ways other than requiring them to visually read standard print. These

alternate modes of access are auditory, multisensory, tactile, and visual. By

using these alternate modes, the student with disabilities may have better

access to information. Some examples of administration accommodations

are Braille, using large print editions, oral reading, signing, and paraphrasing

of materials.

6

Another category of accommodations is the response accommodation. The

response accommodation is defined as allowing students to complete

activities, assignments, and assessments in different ways, or to solve or

organize problems using some type of assistive device or organizer. If the

student with a disability is allowed to use a calculator on an assignment that

is not measuring his/her calculation abilities, but rather his/her ability to solve

problems, then s/he is being given access to a problem-solving situation at

which s/he may not have been successful without the use of the calculator.

Examples of response accommodations are use of a tape recorder,

calculator, computer, etc.

7

Setting Accommodations are a third category of accommodations. Setting

accommodations change the location in which a test or an assignment is

given, or the conditions of the assessment setting. When working with

students with disabilities, sometimes it is a good practice to relocate. If a

room is extremely distracting to the student, it may be wise to move

physically to a room with a calmer atmosphere, in order to get the optimum

performance from the student. An example might be to work with a child

individually or in a small group, rather than to work in a large classroom with

many visual and auditory distractions.

8

The last category of accommodations is timing. Timing is the increase in the

allowable length of time to complete an assessment or assignment, and

perhaps change the way the time is organized. By increasing the length of

time needed to complete an activity, a student with a disability can finish an

activity in a reasonable amount of time. At times it may be necessary to

break the task into several periods in order to complete the assignment.

9

When deciding whether or not to use accommodations, the IEP team should

base the decision on an individual student’s needs, not on whatever is

easiest. Choose accommodations that help the student access instruction

and demonstrate learning; avoid “cafeteria-style” choices unrelated to the

student’s needs. Don’t assume the same accommodations remain

appropriate each year. Evaluate the accommodations being used by the

student on a regular basis to determine if they are still useful and necessary.

10

When choosing accommodations, select those that will give a realistic

picture of the student’s actual level of academic functioning. Use the same

accommodations for instruction and tests in the classroom as you use for

state and district-wide assessments. Accommodations are not intended to

give the student an unfair advantage or to make her/him appear to achieve

more than s/he is actually achieving. Seek input from all IEP team members,

including teachers and parents/guardians when choosing appropriate

accommodations.

11

The documentation of accommodations requires completing Forms D, E,

and F.

When the IEP Chairperson distributes the IEP, the universal supports will be

printed along with form D. If the student were to move, the universal

supports will be displayed to the next IEP team.

12

Some schools are participating in the National Assessment of Educational

Progress (NAEP). This is a national test administered to a statewide

representative sample of students in grades 4, 8, and 12, for the purpose of

national comparison. The sample may include students with disabilities.

If your school is participating, the IEP must address any accommodations or

modifications provided to the student with disabilities. The way the student is

assessed on the NAEP should mirror as closely as possible the way s/he is

tested on state assessments: take NAEP without accommodations, or with

accommodations allowed by NAEP. If the student is assessed by the MAP-

Alternate, s/he may be excluded from taking the NAEP.

IEP teams are reminded that NAEP is not a high stakes test for students,

and does not have the same ramifications as state assessments.

13

If your school is participating in NAEP, use Form D, part 1 to record that the

student will be taking the NAEP. Also, on Form D, part 1 record if the

student has been determined eligible for and will participate in the MAP-

Alternate (MAP-A), and therefore may be excluded from NAEP participation.

Use Form D, part 2 to enter what accommodations the student needs.

14