Accessibility and Accommodations Update for
Educators
Ohio’s Next Generation of Assessments

● Overview of Ohio’s Next Generation of Assessments – Using Universal Design for
Learning
● Overview of PARCC Accessibility Features and Accommodations
● Features for All Students
● Accessibility Features Identified in Advance
● Accommodations
● What is Personal Needs Profile?
● Documenting accommodations in the IEP and making ammendments to testing accommodations
● Resources

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Tool, support, scaffold, or preference that is built into the assessment system that can be activated by any student, at his or her own discretion.
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Universal Design features expected to benefit a diverse array of students and are available to all students.
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Provided onscreen, stored in a toolbar, or are accessible through a menu or control panel, as needed.
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During the assessment, students can choose which accessibility features they need for specific items. Examples include: audio amplification, highlighting, popup glossary, etc.

Accessibility Features for All Students
Audio Amplification
Blank Paper
(provided by test administrator)
Eliminate Answer Choices
Flag Items for Review
General Administration Directions Clarified
(by test administrator)
General Administration Directions Read Aloud and Repeated
(by test administrator)
Highlight Tool
Headphones
Magnification/Enlargement Device
NotePad
Pop-Up Glossary
Redirect Student to Test
(by test administrator)
Spell Checker
WritingTools

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Detailed guidelines on the administration of the PARCC assessments will be included in the PARCC Test Administration Manual.
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Principals may determine that any student may require one or more of the following test administration considerations, regardless of the student’s status as a student with a disability or who is an English learner:
Small group testing
Frequent breaks
Time of day
Separate or alternate location
Specified area or seating
Adaptive and specialized equipment or furniture

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Available to all students (i.e., not limited to students with IEPs, 504 plans, or
English learners), but will be selected and “turned on” by school-based educators prior to the assessment, based on each student’s Personal Needs
Profile (PNP).
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Based on each student’s individual needs, a PNP is created for the student to ensure that he or she receives appropriate access without the distraction of other tools and features that are not required by the student.
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Although school-based educators will enable specific accessibility features for students, the student will decide whether or not to use the feature. These accessibility features will be readily available on the computer-delivered testing platform.

Accessibility Features Identified in Advance
Answer Masking
Background/Font Color (Color Contrast)
General Masking
Line Reader Tool
Text-to-Speech for the Mathematics Assessments

- Partnership for the Assessment of College and Career Readiness – Second Edition (2013). PARCC Accessibility Features and Accommodations Manual 2013 – 2014. Achieve, Inc. Washington, DC: PARCC Assessment Consortia, Page 16

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Accommodations should be based on a documented need in the instruction/assessment setting and should not be provided for the purpose of giving the student an enhancement that could be viewed as an unfair advantage.
Accommodations should be implemented as soon as possible after completion and approval of the appropriate plan and become part of daily instruction.
Accommodations used for instruction should also be used, if allowable, on local district assessments and state assessments.
Page 28 - PARCC Accessibility Features and Accommodations Manual

Content Area
ELA/Literacy
Presentation Accommodations
Text-to-Speech or Video of a Human Interpreter for the ELA/Literacy Assessments, including items, response options, and passages*
Mathematics
Both Content Areas
Braille Edition of ELA/Literacy Assessments
(Hard-copy braille tests and refreshable braille displays for ELA/Literacy)
Closed-Captioning of Multimedia Passages on the ELA/Literacy Assessments
Descriptive Video
Video of a Human Interpreter for the Mathematics Assessments for a Student Who is Deaf or Hard of Hearing
Braille Edition of Mathematics Assessments
(Hard-copy braille tests for Mathematics)
Additional Assistive Technology
(Guidelines available fall 2013)
Tactile Graphics
Video of a Human Interpreter for Test Directions for a Student Who is Deaf or Hard of Hearing
Paper-and-Pencil Edition

Content Area
ELA/Literacy
Mathematics
Both Content
Areas
Response Accommodations
Scribing or Speech-to-Text (i.e., Dictation/Transcription or Signing) for constructed responses on the English Language Arts/Literacy
Assessments*
Word prediction on the ELA/Literacy Performance-Based
Assessment*
Calculation Device and Mathematics Tools*
(on Non-calculator Sessions of Mathematics Assessments)
Additional Assistive Technology
(Guidelines available fall 2013)
Braille note-taker
Scribing or Speech-to-Text (i.e., Dictation/Transcription or Signing) for the Mathematics assessments, and for selected response items on the English Language Arts/Literacy assessments

Other Proposed Accommodations for Students with
Disabilities
Category
Timing &
Scheduling
Setting
Accommodation
Extended Time
Many settings that were once considered accommodations are now consider accessibility features for all students and will be included in the test administrator manual. These include – separate location, small group testing, specified area or seating, time of day, and frequent breaks.

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A small number of students may require additional accommodations either because they are not listed in the PARCC manual, or they do not have an IEP or 504 plan but require an accommodation as a result of a recently-occurring accident or illness.
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The Ohio Department of Education will review requests for unique accommodations in their respective states on an individual basis and will provide approval after determining whether the accommodation would result in a valid score for the student, using guidelines comparable across PARCC states.

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If a student refuses an accommodation listed in his or her IEP, 504 plan, the school should document in writing that the student refused the accommodation, and the accommodation must be offered and remain available to the student during testing.
This form must be completed and placed in the student's file and a copy must be sent to the parent on the day of refusal.
Refer to Appendix H: Student Accommodation Refusal Form.

A paper-based assessment is available for students who are unable to take a computer-based assessment due to a disability
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A student is unable to use a computer due to the impact of his or her disability
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A student who recently entered the school and has had very little or no prior experience or familiarity with technology
The school has previously documented that it does not meet the technology requirements to provide the online assessment.
(Appendix A: Accessibility Features and Accommodations for Students Taking the Paper-Based PARCC Assessments)

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Read aloud for statewide testing is when the “content” of the test is read to a student through text to speech or by a human reader
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“All or None”
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Read aloud in ELA is designed for a very small number of students (1-1.5% of the total tested population) with disabilities who would otherwise be unable to participate in the assessment because their disability severely limits or prevents them from decoding printed text
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This accommodation is not intended for students reading (i.e., moderately) below grade level.
Student scores will count, but reports will indicate that the student received the reading access accommodation
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ODE will monitor the frequency of the use for the purpose of carefully monitoring and determining appropriate decision making
(Read Aloud Guidance for Ohio’s New State Tests , Reading Access White Paper,)

Qualifications for the Read Aloud Accommodation on the ELA Test
IEP teams and 504 plan coordinators should consider whether the student has:
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Blindness or a visual impairment and has not learned (or is unable to use)
Braille;
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OR
A disability that severely limits or prevents him or her from accessing printed text, even after varied and repeated attempts to teach the student to do so
(for example the student is unable to decode printed text)
OR
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Deafness or a hearing impairment and is severely limited or prevented from decoding text due to a documented history of early and prolonged language deprivation

Teams and Coordinators Also Should Consider Whether:
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The student has access to printed text during routine instruction through a reader or other spoken –text audio format or interpreter;
The student’s inability to decode printed text or read Braille is documented in the evaluation summaries from locally-administered diagnostic assessments; or
The student receives ongoing, intensive instruction or interventions in the foundational reading skills to continue to attain the important college and career-ready skill of independent reading.

(Calculator Allowable Sections)
Grades 3-5- No calculators allowed
Grades 6 and 7 - Four-function calculator with square root and percentage functions
Grade 8- Scientific Calculator
High School- Graphing Calculator (with functionalities consistent with TI-
84 or similar models)
(PARCC Calculator Policy for Calculator Sections of the Mathematic Assessments )
(Calculator Guidance Sheets Grades 6 & 7, 8, and High School)

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Allowed for students with a disability that severely limits or prevent their ability to perform basic calculations (i.e., single-digit addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division), this accommodation allows a calculation device to be used on non-calculator mathematics assessment sections.
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Test administrator are not required to collect calculators from these students for items measuring fluency.

Considerations for Allowing Calculator Accommodations on Non-
Calculator Sections of the PARCC
IEP teams and 504 plan coordinators should consider whether the student has:
A disability that severely limits or prevents the student’s ability to perform basic calculations (i.e., single-digit addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division), even after varied and repeated attempts to teach the students to do so

Before listing the accommodation in the student’s
IEP/504 plan, teams should consider whether:
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The student is unable to perform calculations without the use of a calculation device, arithmetic table, or manipulative during routine instruction;
The student’s inability to perform mathematical calculations is documented in evaluation summaries from locally-administered diagnostic assessments.
The student receives ongoing, intensive instruction and/or interventions to learn to calculate without using a calculation device, in order to ensure that the student continues to learn basic calculation and fluency.

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The extended time accommodation is most beneficial for students who routinely need more time than is generally allowed to complete activities, assignments, and tests. Extra time may be needed:
To process written text (e.g., for a student who processes information slowly or has a human reader)
To write (e.g., for a student with limited dexterity)
To use other accommodations or augmentative devices (e.g., assistive technology, audio materials, or a scribe)
For a student who needs frequent breaks that may extend the time needed to complete testing

Students have until the end of the school day to complete a single test unit administered during the testing window.
Recommendations
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Test students in a separate setting to minimize distractions
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Schedule these students for testing in the morning
(Appendix E: Guidance for Selecting and Administering the Extended Time Accommodation)

• For students with a physical disability that severely limits or prevents the student’s motor process of writing, typing, or recording responses during testing
• This includes students with reduced ability to record responses due to pain, paralysis, loss of function, or loss of endurance, as well as students whose handwriting is indecipherable or illegible
• Also allowable for students who can write, but have a documented disability in the area of written expression which results in significant interference in their ability to express their knowledge in writing/keyboarding, even after varied and repeated attempts to teach the student to do so.
• Students should have the inability to express through writing/keyboarding documented in evaluation summaries from locally-administered diagnostic assessments, as well as in the student’s IEP or 504 plan, and they should receive ongoing, intensive instruction and/or interventions to learn written expression
(Appendix C: Protocol for the Use of the Scribe Accommodation)

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All statewide and district-wide testing information for students with disabilities must be documented in section 12
Allowable testing accommodations must always be documented on the student’s IEP or 504 plan.
Accessibility features and some administrative considerations (for example, small group instruction) should also be documented on the student’s IEP or
504 plan to ensure that the student receives them during testing.
The student’s need/deficits need to be documented in evaluation summaries from locally-administered diagnostic assessments (ETR/IEP).

Features for ALL Students to Use

Accessibility Features for All Identified in Advance (PNP Needed)

Accommodations for Students with Disabilities or English Learners (PNP Needed)

For more information:
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Visit the Ohio Computer Based
Assessments Portal at http://oh.portal.airast.org/ocb a/
Note: No username or password is required to access the portal itself.
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New design and features!
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Announcements can be found on the homepage and the Announcements feed.

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This site offers practice for online tools that may be needed for online assessments
Tools can be found at: http://www.pearltrees.com/brandi_young/infohioskills-online-testing/id12112629

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PARCC Livebinder has many testing resources compiled in one place www.sst6.org
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Bill Nellis, Consultant
State Support Team Region 6
Bnellis@sst6.org
Amy Becher, Consultant
State Support Team Region 6 abecher@sst6.org
Caryn Timmerman, Consultant
State Support Team Region 6 ctimmerman@sst6.org