These are my top four most misused testing accommodations for students with special needs
Before we dive in, let's just go ahead and address the fact that standardized testing isn't accessible or useful for some students with special needs. The purpose of testing in the educational setting is supposed to be used to inform instruction and indicate how students compare to their same-grade peers. You know that saying about judging a fish by its ability to climb a tree? Kind of like judging a student with academic strengths up through 2nd grade on how well they do on a 6th grade math test. We know the fish can't climb the tree like the squirrel and raccoon- asking the fish to show you that they can't is unnecessary and honestly just mean. No need to remind the fish, the student, the teacher, or the parents about what the fish or student can't do. Let's also keep in mind that the purpose of testing accommodations is to help students access tests, not ace tests.
Let's go back to our fish for a minute. If I read aloud to the fish "How to Climb A Tree", he still won't be able to climb the tree. If I read aloud a 4th grade math test to a student who just learned how to count from 0-10, he or she still won't be able to tell me the area of a 4 x 6 flower bed to determine how much soil is needed. Sometimes, in these cases, reading a test aloud just prolongs the testing process when instead the student could be receiving instruction aligned with their current needs. For some students, it can also be really confusing and frustrating when they click a button and their math and science test gets read aloud, but clicking that same button on their reading test does nothing. For students for which read aloud is a helpful tool to help them access tests, it's important to make sure they understand which tests will be read aloud to them.
Some students genuinely need a separate setting to test because of needing extra breaks, extended time, or behavior needs. For other students, testing in a classroom they've never seen with a teacher they don't know can cause significant stress and anxiety. It can also be really embarrassing for some students to have to leave class or even test on a different day in some cases. One-on-one testing in particular can be extremely nerve-wracking for kids, because it typically involves two adults and one student. Just a side note-most testing is done online now, which means if students have headphones they should be able to stay in their regular classroom for testing even if they have read aloud. Also, if a student has separate setting because they need a quiet environment, the testing environment should be as quiet as it ever gets so the regular classroom should have about the same noise level as a small group.
Have you ever been focusing on something really hard, and someone interrupts you and you feel like you lost all your progress and now you have to start over? That's what it's like when you're twenty minutes into a test and you have to stop and take a three minute break even though you only have one sentence left to read in a four-paragraph block of text. Which means after the three minute break, which is not spent resting your mind but instead is spent full of frustration, you have to go all the way back to paragraph one, word one, and read the entire thing again so you can remember it well enough to answer questions about it. Sounds fun, right? In an ideal world, my suggestion would be to set up breaks after a specific number texts/questions instead of breaks designated by time. Unfortunately, this usually isn't an "acceptable" accommodation. If you have students that benefit from more breaks than the standard testing sessions, it might be helpful for your students to practice not only testing using this testing/break interval, but also regular classwork and worksheets in the testing/break interval so both you and the students can get an understanding of their stamina. Another note here-if the test doesn't have limits on bathroom breaks, consider teaching the student to ask for a bathroom or water break when they feel like they need a break outside the regular break times so they can still test in their regular classroom.
I've personally seen this play out a few different ways. Honestly, most of my students who had "extended time" didn't use it, because the tests are so long already. Other students finished the test with time to spare before needing extended time, but then went back over their answers and changed every single one. Twice. There are definitely students who just need a little more time to process, and without the extended time they wouldn't have the opportunity to perform to the best of their ability or even finish the test. But, if they don't use it or it causes more anxiety to have extra testing time, it's another accommodation that sounds nice but isn't actually needed.
It's okay and encouraged to ask questions about your child's testing accommodations! One thing I always wished I could say in an IEP meeting when talking about testing accommodations is that while general education students usually know at least one adult in the room during the test, special education students who are testing in small groups or one-on-one aren't always testing with their special education teacher or even a special education teacher at all. Some students with special needs will test differently based on their level of comfort with the other people in the room. I would recommend that parents request that the student tests with a familiar adult, and for students who struggle with communication specifying that the adult is a "familiar listener" is so important!
