General Background

About 15% students in public schools in the United States are identified as having disabilities, with the most common disability categories including (a) specific learning disabilities, (b) speech/language impairments, (c) health impairments such as ADHD, (d) autism, and (e) emotional disturbances. Many students with disabilities are given testing accommodations--changes to the way in which the test is administered, while keeping the test content the same. One of the most common accommodations is extended testing time.

Extended time is relatively easy to administer, and it's inexpensive--it doesn't require specialized equipment and may not even require new personnel. But when it's given without a good reason, extended time can still have disadvantages. It can take educators' focus off of building students' academic skills to be fluent and automatic, and it can also make students feel as if they can't handle time pressure. There's also some research suggesting that extended time is more likely to be given to affluent students, raising equity concerns. 

Our goal is  to use research to help understand what students actually do with their extended time--whether they use their accommodations to take tests differently than their nondisabled peers do, and whether they can obtain specific benefits from using it.