assessment and to know the consequences of the decisions. If educators determine that a student should use a certain accessibility support during an assessment but the student refuses to use the support, the validity of the assessment results may be compromised. Consideration of longer term consequences is important as well. For example, as students begin to make post-secondary choices, these may factor into the nature of accessibility choices open to them. Educators may want to discuss whether or how this affects decisions about accessibility for assessments. Educators should also be aware that validity implications are different for ELP assessments than for content assessments. Accessibility supports, therefore, should be selected in accordance to whether language proficiency or content area knowledge is being tested. Educators should plan how and when the student will learn to use each new accessibility support. They should be certain there is ample time to learn to use instructional and assessment accessibility supports before an assessment takes place. Finally, they should plan for the ongoing evaluation and improvement of the student’s use of accessibility features. Tools 9-18 provide additional information on this step. Step 4: Administer Accessibility Supports During Instruction and Assessment Accessibility During Instruction Students must be provided selected accessibility supports during instruction that necessitate their use. An accessibility support should not be used solely during assessments. Accessibility supports should always be chosen based on a student’s individual characteristics in order to help them with accessing content meaningfully and equitably. As states and consortia move toward providing assessments on technology-based platforms, educators must make sure that students have opportunities to become familiar with the technological aspects of the assessment process. In addition to taking practice tests using the same testing platform, it is also important for educators to provide opportunities for all students to use technology for learning.
assessment and to know the consequences of the decisions. If educators determine that a student should use a certain accessibility support during an assessment but the student refuses to use the support, the validity of the assessment results may be compromised. Consideration of longer term consequences is important as well. For example, as students begin to make post-secondary choices, these may factor into the nature of accessibility choices open to them. Educators may want to discuss whether or how this affects decisions about accessibility for assessments. Educators should also be aware that validity implications are different for ELP assessments than for content assessments. Accessibility supports, therefore, should be selected in accordance to whether language proficiency or content area knowledge is being tested. Educators should plan how and when the student will learn to use each new accessibility support. They should be certain there is ample time to learn to use instructional and assessment accessibility supports before an assessment takes place. Finally, they should plan for the ongoing evaluation and improvement of the student’s use of accessibility features. Tools 9-18 provide additional information on this step. Step 4: Administer Accessibility Supports During Instruction and Assessment Accessibility During Instruction Students must be provided selected accessibility supports during instruction that necessitate their use. An accessibility support should not be used solely during assessments. Accessibility supports should always be chosen based on a student’s individual characteristics in order to help them with accessing content meaningfully and equitably. As states and consortia move toward providing assessments on technology-based platforms, educators must make sure that students have opportunities to become familiar with the technological aspects of the assessment process. In addition to taking practice tests using the same testing platform, it is also important for educators to provide opportunities for all students to use technology for learning.
CCSSOAccessibilityManual.docx