Accommodations vs. Modifications

What are accommodations?

• Accommodations reduce or eliminate the effects of English language and disability-related barriers to access to instruction and assessment. “Access” is a student’s ability to interact or respond to curricular and test content.
• For example, a student with English language and disability-related needs may require a translated test version to access test content, as well as speech-to-text software to dictate his or her responses.
• In this way, accommodations promote access for ELLs with disabilities, but do not change learning expectations.

What are modifications in testing?

• Modifications do change learning expectations for ELLs with disabilities.
• When used for instruction, modifications may prevent a student from learning critical content that, in turn, affects his or her performance on state and district assessments.
• When used for assessment, modifications interfere with the knowledge or skills that the test is intended to measure. These assessment results often are not counted in the same was as other assessment results.
• For example, a student with English language and disability-related needs may complete reduced assignments that include “easy” problems or items, and may use a dictionary or other English language reference materials on a test intended to measure the student’s English language skills. In both cases, learning expectations would be lowered.