Standardized testing is a method used to evaluate student performance. Every student is given the same test, with the same questions and scoring, which seems like a fair system, but has recently been discussed as the opposite. The results of these tests are administered to reflect on how well students picked up on information throughout their education, so that teachers can amend their teaching techniques to better help students understand what they missed and why. In the beginning, standardized testing was used to determine college acceptance, military positions, and even to test kids for special needs. So what if a student has special needs? Do their test scores still have to be compared to students who aren’t diagnosed with a disability? The answer is not that simple, but accommodations help tremendously.
Accommodations are extra tools a student with disabilities uses to provide equal academic advantages without changing their learning. Some examples are extra time on tests and quizzes, text-to-speech during tests, a hard copy of notes taken in class, and more.
“Accommodations help a student to level the playing field. Help them perform at around the same level as their peers. For example, extra time. If a student has a lower processing speed, they might have a test read orally if they have a learning disability in reading,” Carla Wright said.
Students with any type of disability are forced to take the same test as everyone else. This may seem fair to a student who has low test-taking anxiety, but to a student who processes words differently, a standardized test is measuring their weakness, not their intelligence. For one, students with special needs learn different material than students in an average classroom. Therefore, comparing their test scores would be inaccurate to see the learning progression of all students within a school. How is it fair to compare the knowledge of two students who took the same test, but learn completely different material? Next, every student learns and executes learned information differently. For example, one student may be better at showing their knowledge by answering multiple choice questions on a piece of paper, while another student tests better by orally explaining the information to the teacher. Is it really fair for students to be restricted on how they show how intelligent they really are?
“Many students with learning disabilities experience low self-esteem and high levels of anxiety. They often struggle to understand why they receive lower grades, particularly on standardized tests, compared to their classmates,” Anne Lee said.
“All of the students with learning disabilities experience feelings of not being able to perform the same as their peers. That is why we provide accommodations not only to help them academically, but also to help them perform at the same level as their peers,” Carla Wright said.
