Acadience Reading Pre-K: PELI: Assessment Accommodations

Assessment accommodations are used for those students for whom the standard administration conditions would not produce accurate results.

Approved Accommodations for Acadience Reading Pre-K: PELI

Approved accommodations are those accommodations that are unlikely to change how the assessment functions. When approved accommodations are used, the scores can be reported and interpreted as official Acadience Reading Pre-K: PELI scores. Approved accommodations should be used only for students for whom the accommodations are necessary to provide an accurate assessment of student skills. 

Accommodations Approved for Use With Acadience Reading Pre-K: PELI

• Testing using assistive listening devices for children with hearing impairment; and
• Conducting the assessment across two or more sessions for children with challenging behaviors.

Unapproved Accommodations for Acadience Reading Pre-K: PELI

Any other accommodations used beyond the approved accommodations would be considered unapproved. 

Unapproved accommodations are accommodations that are likely to change how the assessment functions. Scores from measures administered with unapproved accommodations should not be treated or reported as official Acadience Reading Pre-K: PELI scores, and cannot be compared to other Acadience Reading Pre-K: PELI scores or benchmark goals.

There are times, however, when modifying assessment procedures can provide valuable information about a child’s skills and the conditions that may facilitate a child’s performance.

Testing the Limits

A primary reason for using the PELI is to improve instruction and/or intervention activities for children. Testing the limits is an assessment technique for gathering additional information that is useful for identifying instructional needs of an individual child. Testing the limits consists of re-administering portions of the test using modified assessment procedures and is done after the entire test has been given according to the administration and scoring procedures specified in the manual.

Testing the limits, or the use of unapproved accommodations, may be used if you feel that the assessment results using the standard procedures do not fairly represent the child’s skills and abilities. 

It is important to keep in mind that the procedures for testing the limits are to be done only after the PELI has been administered following standard administration procedures. The scores achieved when using these modifications cannot be compared to benchmarks, but can be used to identify instructional needs for an individual child.

Examples of Testing the Limits and Unapproved Accommodations

• A child with limited English proficiency may be given the directions in their primary language.
• A child with limited English proficiency may have their responses scored in their primary language by an assessor who is fluent in the child’s native language.
• Children with limited English proficiency, children who have expressive speech/language impairments, or children who are reluctant to talk may be directed to point to the correct letter or picture for the Alphabet Knowledge, Vocabulary-Oral Language, and/or Phonological Awareness subtests.

For more information, please reference the Acadience Reading Pre-K: PELI Assessment Manual which is available to users who have purchased the assessment.