Accommodations

An accommodation changes how information and concepts are presented or practiced, ensuring that each student has the opportunities and support needed to learn. Accommodations do not reduce the learning expectations and should be chosen based on the student's individual needs and not applied arbitrarily to all MLs. Accommodations are not to be viewed as an advantage to the student; accommodations provide access to the content for the student.

Accommodations:

• Provide access to the grade-level curriculum;

• Alter the environment, not the curriculum;

• Do not change the learning outcomes;

• Happens in the content-area classroom, and

• This should not impact grading, though how learning is assessed may change.

Note: Accommodations marked with an asterisk are also considered best practices and will take you to the Best Practices page. 

• Allow alternative response options for assignments and assessments

• Allow for assignment/assessment retakes or corrections

• Bilingual dictionary

• Chunk assignments/assessments into manageable pieces

• Grading with a rubric based on the student’s level of English proficiency

• Individual instruction

• Paired oral and written instructions

• Permit student errors in spelling and grammar except when explicitly taught and assessed, Acknowledge errors as indications of learning, Allow edits for specific language errors

• *Pre-teach key vocabulary and key content

• Provide a copy of notes

• *Provide sentence frames or sentence stems

• *Provide word banks

• Small group instruction

• Teacher use of simplified language

• Use of instructional tools such as highlighter, calculator, etc.

• Use varied print and audio texts, such as recorded books, graphic novels, etc.

• *Visual cues

Best Practices Best practices are intended to support MLs in all classes, no matter their proficiency level. These strategies are expected to be used by all teachers within lessons, assignments, and assessments to support MLs and all learners. Best practices are strategies that educators can quickly implement within daily instruction, activities, and classroom assessments. Research-based best practices are essential for multilingual learners at all proficiency levels but beneficial to all students, including non-MLs. 

For additional information and a list of best practices that are listed in each student’s ILAP, please refer to the Best Practices Digital Handbook.