Takeaways for Students

Students have important roles in the extended time accommodations process:

• Telling teachers and other school staff how well your accommodations are working for you

• Speaking about the impact of your disability, and working with teachers and other school staff to think about what might help you participate fully in school

Takeaways for students from our research:

• Most students who were provided extended time on the math exam didn't use *any* of the additional time.

• Students who used special test features (like asking the computer to read words to them) during the exam spent more time on test items. 

• In our study, students who said that they worked hard on the test spent more time on test items.  So if a student who has extended time doesn't use it, they might just not be motivated to use it. It's possible that the student might be giving up on difficult items that they don't think they can answer.

What students can DO, based on this research:

• If you have extra time on tests, and you really feel that you don't need to use it (you have enough time to work on all of the test items without using any of the extra time), let your teacher and parent know. They can consider changing your accommodation plan. You might be missing out on class activities while you're be given additional time on tests (that you aren't using).

• If you use special test features, like "text-to-speech" or even using a Zoom feature to make the font larger on a test, make sure that you also have enough time to work on all of the items, and if you don't, mention this to your teacher and parent. They can consider adding extended time accommodations to your plan.