In a few months, many of our students with disabilities will be taking the Grades 3-8 New York State English Language Arts Assessments. As a result of a new State Education Department (SED) policy there have been changes in allowable testing accommodations, specifically with the accommodation “Tests-read.”  Now students with disabilities can have the entire ELA test read aloud if it is documented on their IEPs or 504 Plans.  In the past, only directions were to be read aloud on the Grades 3-8 ELA Assessment. This new New York State Education Department memo, (11/16/17) replaces all previous guidance from the department.

It is important for us to remember that this is a low-incidence accommodation, impacting a small percentage of students with disabilities.  These are students whose “disability severely limits or precludes the ability to decode print”. It will be up to the Committee on Special Education or Section 504 Committee to determine for which students this is an appropriate accommodation based upon the student’s individual disability-related needs and current information and evaluations.

Based upon the child’s unique needs, the CSE or 504 Team needs to determine if the student with a disability has such a severe problem decoding print that he/she needs to receive the tests-read accommodation for all state and local tests including tests of reading comprehension.  If the CSE/504 Team determines that the student’s disability moderately impacts the ability to decode print, that student would not receive the tests-read accommodation on the Grades 3-8 ELA Assessment. For many of our students with disabilities the tests-read accommodation is not appropriate at all, and in fact may have a negative impact on their test performance.

The New York State Education Department has developed a tool to help CSEs and 504 Teams in determining which students in grades 3 through 8 need the recommendation of tests-read, consisting of questions requiring a team to review data and evidence in order to make an informed decision.  See the School Tool above for more information on this tool.

What does the research suggest about the effects of read-aloud accommodations?  Although many studies have looked at the effects of read-aloud accommodations, the results are mixed.  In a recent meta-analysis (Li, 2014) twenty-three studies were examined to determine the effect of read-aloud accommodations for students with and without disabilities.  Here are the major results of their study:

⇒ Generally, both students with disabilities and students without disabilities benefit from the read-aloud accommodations.  However, students with disabilities benefit more than students without disabilities.

⇒ The effect of using read-aloud accommodations was significantly stronger when the subject area was reading than when the subject area was math.

⇒ The effect of read-aloud accommodations were significantly stronger when the test was read by human proctors than when it was read by computers or video/audio players.

⇒ The effect of read-aloud accommodations appears to be stronger for elementary school students than the secondary school students.

Of course, once the decision is made that a student needs the tests-read accommodation, there are many additional questions to consider, including:

  • How will educators ensure the accommodation is implemented appropriately?

How will teacher aides/assistants be trained in provision of the accommodation?

  • How will the student be made aware of the accommodation?

As we enter our hectic annual review season, we are faced with many important decisions. One of them is the decision about which  accommodations and supports our students need to be successful in participating in the general education curriculum and assessments.

References:

Hongli Li, (2014). The Effects of Read-Aloud Accommodations for Students with and Without Disabilities: A Meta-Analysis. Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice, Fall 2014, Vol33, No. 3, pp. 3-16.