What’s the Accommodation?

Testing to completion.

How is the Accommodation Supposed to be Implemented?

Student is given the test.

Student is given as much time as is needed to complete the test.

What Could Go Wrong?

How is “Testing” Defined?

Testing is defined differently by different people. I learned this the hard way.

I thought testing applied to all assessments administered, to include—but not limited to—end-of-chapter tests, quizzes, semester exams, end-of-year state evaluations, and so on. In addition, I thought both graded and ungraded assessments were included.

After all, we don’t say a student is quizzing or examing or evaluating or assessmenting. We say a student is testing.

Therefore, testing applies to whatever assessment is being provided.

Yet, two years in a row I ran into teachers who didn’t think quizzes or ungraded assessments were included in this accommodation. Hence, they refused the accommodation to the students. (Please read “The Language of IEPs & 504s: Just When You Thought You Knew the Definition of “Assessment”, Wrong Again” for more on this.)

The definition of testing must be crystal clear to everyone. For example, rather than testing to completion, it might state:

Extended time to completion for all tests, evaluations, quizzes, assessments, and any other type of evaluation that has not yet been stated, whether it is ungraded or graded.

Where and When Will Testing to Completion Take Place?

Will testing occur in the classroom or in a different room?

If in the classroom, will your student turn in his assessment when his peers do, so that he doesn’t miss any instruction that might follow the assessment?

Some classes start with quizzes that are directly followed by instruction. If each class starts with a quiz, will your student continue taking the quiz or turn it in for completion later? If your student is expected to finish the quiz, how will he be provided instruction he misses?

If your student isn’t finished by the end of class, where will she finish the test?

Before or after school in the teacher’s classroom? If the teacher isn’t available, is another teacher available? Or is study hall an option?

In high school, where testing takes place more often and where tests are longer, you want to consider whether the student can handle being in the position of having multiple open tests at one time, with more tests piling up. In this case, especially during high-volume testing periods (end of semester/end of year), this is a matter of proactive planning.

Will someone work with your student and/or you to find out what tests will be done on which days, develop a schedule for taking them, and coordinate with all of the student’s teachers? If not, will the student do it? If not, is an advocacy goal needed to encourage the student to communicate with teachers? Perhaps a goal is needed to address organization? Perhaps a related service is needed for coordination between you and staff?

For example, imagine your student has an end-of-semester test in History and Chemistry on the same day. Rather than your student starting two tests the same day—and not completing either—would it make more sense for your student to go as far as possible with History during that class and then finishing it during Chemistry? At the end of the day, this might leave one full test rather than two unfinished tests for completion.

If your student is easily fatigued, and back-to-back testing is difficult, you can consider asking that the student not have more than one test a day, or that the schoolwork with you in advance to develop a schedule. All of this would need to be included within the IEP.

After School:

If your student is in band, theater, plays a sport, or is involved in any other extracurricular activities after school, consider working with the teachers to make sure these events aren’t missed.

A teacher once told me that “putting athletics above academics is a slippery slope.” He didn’t understand that this isn’t a case of putting athletics first. It is a case of putting happiness and balance first.

Students need happiness in their days. Missing activities that offer opportunities for them to shine, to experience happiness, and to be with their peers can be damaging to their psyche.

How will the Testing Occur?

Will the student be provided the entire test from the very start?

Will the student be provided one half one day and another half another day?

Will the student be provided with one page and/or question at a time?

I’ve heard of a few teachers who have advised students that if they don’t finish the questions given to them that day, they won’t be allowed to go back to that portion later. Their arguments have been along the lines of the following:

It’s unfair to other students, because the students with IEPs or 504 Plans can look to see what’s on the tests, look up the answers later, and then put the answers in when they finish the test at a later time.

On another occasion, a teacher graded both the finished and unfinished portion of a test before giving it back to the student for completion. Seeing red marks all over the test was distracting and depressing for the student—and it presented a testing environment that his peers didn’t have to experience.

Final Break Down:

This is one of the most-needed, but toughest accommodations to implement—in addition to be among the toughest to write.

It is doable, but only with a lot of communication and advanced scheduling.

For this reason, it isn’t enough to have the accommodation “testing to completion”.

Depending on your student, it might need to be:

Extended time: Testing to completion for all tests, evaluations, quizzes, assessments, and any other type of evaluation that has not been stated here, whether it is ungraded or graded. Tests will be provided to student in full. Teacher will not grade assessment until entire assessment is completed. Case manager will obtain testing schedules two weeks in advance for each class. Case manager will develop a schedule with student for starting and completing tests. Case manager will share this schedule at least one week in advance with parent, because parent is student’s transportation to/from school. Case manager will coordinate with teachers to ensure they understand why student might need to work on another test instead of theirs.

You have to spell out each step. If you don’t, you’ll have a case manager and teachers who might say they didn’t know they were supposed to create a schedule or coordinate testing, and you’ll have a student with five open tests, at various stages of completion, with at least one of them with a start date of over a month ago.

“Testing to completion” = not as simple as it sounds.