Takeaways for Teachers

Classroom teachers have several important roles in the extended time accommodations process:

• Teachers make and administer classroom exams, and need to consider (a) how many items to put on a test and (b) how much time to allot to a test. 

• Teachers proctor classroom and standardized tests, and often administer accommodations to students who need them.

• Teachers can collect observational data on whether and how students use time, and how those with extended time accommodations use it.

• Teachers can encourage meaningful student engagement in testing.

• Teachers give input into accommodations decisions, as a part of the individualized education program (IEP) or Section 504 plan team.

Takeaways for teachers from our research:

• Among both 4th and 8th graders, which school a student attended had a substantial impact on whether the student received extended time accommodations; schools appear to have different thresholds and decision-making processes.

• Among both 4th and 8th graders, students who use text-to-speech, scratch paper, Zoom, or other such features/accommodations also spend more time on test items. Therefore, students who receive these other accommodations--or who are taking tests with these accessibility features--may need more time.

• Among both 4th and 8th graders, higher self-reported effort was associated with spending more time on items. Therefore, when a student who has extended time accommodations does not use their extended time, low effort should be considered as a possible reason why, with a corresponding intervention being to increase the student's motivation.

• Among both 4th and 8th graders, students who were eligible for free/reduced-price lunch spent less time on test items.

• Most students (in either 4th or 8th grade) who received extended time accommodations didn't use any of their extra time, and of those who used it, most didn't gain any more points during the extra period of time.

What teachers can DO, based on this research:

•  Regularly monitoring whether or not students are using extended time that they are granted, and collecting information about their use (or lack thereof) may offer helpful information for quality IEP decision-making. Some potentially helpful related questions to ask and use to help inform decisions as part of the IEP process include the following:

  • If a student uses text-to-speech, do they have adequate time to use it during testing?

    • If not, consider increasing access to more time.

  • If a child is already eligible for extended time, are they typically using it?

    • If they are not using it, consider asking more questions to figure out why.

      • Is it because they are not motivated to use more time?

        • If so, it may be the case that they need more encouragement or reinforcement for using their extended time.

      • Is it because they don’t need it?

        • If so, it may be appropriate to remove it as an accommodation. Even though it may seem as though there’s no downside to extended time, the child may be missing out on instruction as they sit in a separate testing location to receive their extended time.