Inside This Issue
Message from the LRC Director
Timely Matters
Letter From the Office of Civil Rights (OCR)
Disability In Brief
If the accommodation is to take place in the LRC, a copy of the test/exam must be delivered to the LRC by the faculty member one day prior to the test/exam date.
Faculty will have to provide testing accommodations for students when tests are rescheduled, for instance, if a test is moved from Tuesday to Friday.
Students generally receive time and a half for an extended time test.
Professors should be trained to respond to student requests for accommodations. /
A MESSAGE TO FACULTY AND STAFF
Welcome to what finally feels like fall! On September 27, 2007 President Bush signed a proclamation recognizing October as National Disability Month and National Disability Employment Awareness Month. I have been working with people with disabilities for over thirty years now and this has given me the privilege of witnessing first hand some of the most remarkable shifts in human society that have ever occurred in such a short period of time. Once we finally figured out that disability is really the outcome of a dynamic interaction between a person’s abilities, the demands of his or her environment, and the presence or absence of the supports and accommodations necessary to tap someone’s full potential, we were able to be more creative about including and benefiting from the presence of people with disabilities in our community. This issue of the LRC Bulletin concerns the policies and procedures currently in place at Mitchell College to support students with disabilities and to provide educational opportunities to our highly diverse student population that would have been impossible just a few short years ago.Sincerely,
Peter F. Love, MPH, PhD
Director Learning Resource Center
Mitchell College
860-701-5071
Timely Matters: Midterms
LRC testing accommodation procedures
Any testing or examination accommodation requested by a student and supported through documentation on file in the LRC is the responsibility of the faculty member. However, the LRC staff is available to assist with any testing accommodation requests. If assistance is requested from the LRC, the following procedures must be followed:· A Testing Request Form is completed by the student and signed by the Learning Specialist at the LRC.
· The student delivers the signed form to the faculty member.
· The faculty member stipulates on the form any special test conditions (i.e., use of a calculator, class notes, outlines, etc.) that may be permitted during the test/exam.
· The student returns completed Testing Accommodation Forms to the LRC at least three days prior to the test date and, in the case of Final Exams, one week prior to the last day of class. Due to the large number or requests for testing accommodation, late requests cannot be honored.
· If the accommodation is to take place in the LRC, a copy of the test/exam must be delivered to the LRC by the faculty member one day prior to the test/exam date.
· The faculty member must retrieve the completed test/exam for the LRC no later than one day after the test/exam date.
Accommodation facts
Students may not deliver their own tests to the LRC. All tests must be delivered by faculty.Information that is provided in class about a test must also be provided to the student taking a test in the LRC.
If students are allowed the use of books, notes, or any other materials for a test, it must be written on the testing accommodation form.
It is extremely helpful when the names of students are identified on tests.
Faculty will have to provide testing accommodations for students when tests are rescheduled, for instance, if a test is moved from Tuesday to Friday.
Examples of testing accommodations
Alternative Test Design – an alternate format of a test needs to be based on documentation. Examples of alternate tests are enlarged print, oral, and or Braille material.Assistive Technology – computers may be used to assist with lengthy written answers or to have tests read to students using software programs such as ReadPlease.
Distraction Reduced Testing Environment – available to those students who benefit from fewer distractions from the environment. Students will be placed in a separate room so they may concentrate better.
Extended Time – provided to students whose documentation substantiates that extra time would demonstrate their true understanding of course material. Students generally receive time and a half for an extended time test.
Readers – available to students who have difficulty reading printed materials. Each word is read as it is written, without emphasis on any of the words read.
Scribes – available to students who have difficulty with the physical aspects of writing but can express their thoughts verbally. Scribes write down only what a student dictates.
LETTER FROM THE OFFICE OF CIVIL RIGHTS: Professor failed to approve accommodations
Case number: Letter to Western Michigan University, No.15-03-2034(104LRP 11375) (OCR XII, Cleveland (MI) 2003.Summary: A student in the university’s travel and tourism course complained to OCR that a professor did not provide academic adjustments and auxiliary aids and services for her midterm exam. She also said staff failed to respond to her complaint concerning this incident.
University officials agreed to resolve the complaint and OCR will monitor the situation. They will change the student’ grade from a “C” to a “credit” and note this change on her official university record and transcript.
They also agreed to develop and submit to OCR for review, policies and procedures that comply with the requirements of Section 504 and Title II for the provision of accommodation and auxiliary aids and services to students with disabilities.
Also, university officials agreed to revise any hard copy, and /or electronic notices of its policies and procedures relating to how students request academic adjustments and auxiliary aids and services, as well as the notice regarding the grievance procedures.
The revisions shall include the university’s Internet Web pages so policies and procedures are readily accessible to those seeking information about the provision of academic adjustments and auxiliary aids and services.
Finally, the university agreed to develop a method of training faculty and relevant staff in university procedures. OCR will monitor implementation of the agreement.
Ruling: Western Michigan University officials agreed to resolve the allegations brought by a student. She complained to the Office of Civil Rights that the university failed to provide accommodations and did not respond appropriately when she complained.
Meaning: Professors should be trained to respond to student requests for accommodations.
Filo, Edward and Paula Willits. Identifying, Accommodating and Serving Students with LD and ADD in Higher Education. Horsham: LRP, 2005.
People mistakenly believe that if a little accommodation is good then more accommodation is even better.
To ask questions or share your feedback, please contact Dr. Peter Love at 860-701-5071 or email him at
/
DISABILITY IN BRIEF: Over-accommodation
“Too much of a good thing can be wonderful” – Mae West.While Mae West’s quip can be applied successfully to chocolate, ice cream sundaes, and other guilty pleasures, it is not the case with accommodations. People mistakenly believe that if a little accommodation is good then more accommodation is even better. However, this attitude may, in fact, keep students from developing important life skills. This attitude is based on some fundamental misunderstandings of the nature of disability as a static state of functioning as well as a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of accommodations. Ideally academic accommodations should be:
· Reasonable: accommodations do not change the basic content or expectations of the course or test/exam.
· Linked directly to a specific functional limitation that can be attributed to the disability: sometimes students will have an accommodation that they do not fully use, such as extended time on tests, but it still can be an appropriate accommodation for that student because they may have other concerns that make that accommodation appropriate for that student. For example, not all students with a diagnosis of dyslexia need the accommodation of a reader or accessible technology. This accommodation ideally should be based on how the diagnosis actually affects the student’s ability to access the material of the course or the test.
· Developmental: the primary goal of accommodation is to ensure access to materials for otherwise qualified students with disabilities and to ensure a “level playing field” for all students regardless of disability. However, there is a “meta-purpose” to accommodations which is to help students to develop the skills, knowledge, self-confidence and positive self-regard to become more independent learners and eventually more independent workers in the world.
One of our tasks at the LRC is to ensure that accommodations are necessary, reasonable and sufficient without providing too much support. We review referring psychologists’ recommendations critically and on an on-going basis as we come to understand each student’s strengths and weaknesses. If we see difficulties with the accommodation profile, we work with students to self-advocate for those accommodations that are most appropriate. In this way, the LRC assures the real value of accommodations and the integrity of the accommodations process for students as well as individuals with disabilities in general.
Peter Love