Supplementing Teacher Judgments of Mathematics Test Accommodations with Objective Data Sources

Abstract

This study examined the utility of a data-based assessment process to supplement teacher judgments about test accommodations. One hundred ninety-two students with learning disabilities (LD) and 181 students without LD completed 2 computations curriculum-based measurements (CBMs) (standard; extended time); 4 concepts and applications CBMs (standard, extended time, calculators, reading text aloud); and 5 problem-solving CBMs (standard, extended time, calculators, reading text aloud, encoding). CBM scores were used to examine whether students with LD benefited differentially from accommodations; estimate “typical” accommodation boosts among nondisabled students; and award accommodations to students with LD whose boosts exceeded the “typical” boost. Then, teachers provided independent accommodation judgments and students with LD completed large-scale assessments with and without accommodations. Students with LD, as a group, profited differentially from accommodations on problem-solving CBMs, but not on conventional CBMs; teachers over-awarded accommodations; and CBM accommodation boosts predicted differential performance on large-scale assessments and supplemented teacher judgments in important ways.