Reading Accommodations and Reading Tests

Does reading aloud the test items on a standardized reading comprehension test to students with a disability give them an unfair advantage over students without disabilities? A small study was conducted to begin to answer this question. The results were published as a Technical Report, Effects of a Reading Accommodation on the Validity of a Reading Test by the National Center on Educational Outcomes.

Elementary school children without and with disabilities (including reading difficulties) were given two comprehension tests. One test was read to them and one wasn't. The scores of students with disabilities tended to be higher when the test was read to them. The scores of the other students stayed close to the same in both conditions. This trend would indicate that the accommodation only helps those who need it and doesn't give them an unfair advantage. The trend of the results of the study point to the need for continued research.

The researchers also asked the students which type of test method they preferred. Those without disabilities liked to do the reading themselves, while those with disabilities preferred having the test read to them.

More research needs to be done with larger groups for the trends in the study to be statistically significant and for the validity of the tests to be proven. However, for an individual child, the increase in scores due to the accommodation in the study was large enough to make a difference in decisions about their education. These decisions are best based on accurate information since they could have far reaching effects.

For more information, contact the National Center on Educational Outcomes.

National Center on Educational Outcomes, University of Minnesota, 350 Elliott Hall, 75 East River Road, Minneapolis, MN 55455, Voice 612-626-1530, Fax 612/624-0879, http://education.umn.edu/NCEO/, nceo@umn.edu.