Acadience Reading 7-8: 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 7–8

Approved accommodations are those accommodations which are unlikely to change how the assessment functions. When approved accommodations are used, the scores can be reported and interpreted as official Acadience Reading 7–8 scores. Approved accommodations should only be used with students for whom the accommodations are necessary to provide an accurate assessment of student skills. 

The following accommodations are approved for use with all Acadience Reading 7–8 measures (Maze, SR, and OR):

• The use of student materials that have been enlarged or with larger print for students with visual impairments.
• The use of colored overlays, filters, or lighting adjustments for students with visual impairments.
• The use of assistive technology, such as hearing aids and assistive listening devices (ALDs), for students with hearing impairments.
• The use of a marker or ruler to focus student attention on the materials for students who are not able to demonstrate their skills adequately without one. It is good practice to attempt the assessment first without a marker or ruler and then retest with an alternate form of the assessment using a marker or ruler if needed.

 Unapproved Accommodations for Acadience Reading 7–8

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 7–8 scores, and cannot be compared to other Acadience Reading 7–8 scores or benchmark goals.

An unapproved accommodation may be used when:

• A student cannot be tested accurately using the standardized rules or approved accommodations, but the school would still like to measure progress for that student; or
• A student’s Individualized Education Plan (IEP) requires testing with an unapproved accommodation. Scores for a student using an unapproved accommodation can be used to measure individual growth for that student.

Examples of Unapproved Accommodations

• A student with limited English proficiency may be given the directions in their primary language.
• A student whose IEP requires assessments to be given untimed may be administered the Acadience Reading 7–8 measures without the timing component. This would measure only accuracy, not fluency.

For more information please see the Assessment Manual located on the Acadience Resource Hub.