Parents, teachers, and students should learn the difference between accommodation and modification in both instructional and testing environments. When the learning expectations for a student have frequently been modified in elementary and middle school, parents and students can be surprised when the student reaches high school and find that similar modifications are not available for Indiana statewide assessments, such as the End-of-Course Assessment for Algebra, English or Biology or for national college entrance tests, such as the ACT and SAT.
Accommodations vs. Modifications
Accommodations help remove barriers and can be used for instruction or testing. They do not change course content or expectations. An accommodation in testing or instruction—which must be previously agreed upon in a case conference committee discussion and is then written into the student’s IEP—might include having a test read aloud, or the option to take the test in a quiet room. Talk with your team about what accommodations should be used in high school and on state standardized tests. Note, however, that allowable accommodations can vary for college entrance and placement tests. Parents, teachers and students interested in post-secondary education, should talk with their guidance counselor and review the accommodation information available on the ACT and SAT websites.
Modifications are changes to course content, required work, or instructional level. If your student is considering a diploma track, ask your teachers about gradually reducing or eliminating any modifications your middle school student may be using. Modifications include things like requiring a student to complete only half of the work that other students complete, or providing him/her with simpler material, or testing the student on different content.
For more information, see Understood.org’s article, “The Differences Between Accommodations and Modifications.”