Huynh, H., Meyer, J. P., & Gallant, D. J. (2004). Comparability of student performance between regular and oral administrations for a high-stakes mathematics test . Applied Measurement in Education , 17 (1), 39–57. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15324818ame1701_3

This study examined the effect of oral administration (read-aloud) accommodations on test structure and student performance on the mathematics portion on the South Carolina High School Exit Examination. Oral delivery was provided through three different formats: audiotape recording operated by test administrator, audiotape recording operated by test-takers, and in-person read-aloud by test administrator.

An extant data set of statewide participants in the South Carolina (U.S.) High School Exit Examination (HSEE), grade 10 level (N=89,214). These students were broken into three groups. The first, made up of general education students (n=85,638), took the regular form of the test. The second, made up of students with documented disabilities (n=2,642), also took the regular form of the test. The third, also made up of student with documented disabilities (n=934), took a special oral administration form of the test. Students with disabilities comprised 4% of the sample. Additional ethnicity and sex data were reported.

The mathematics section of the South Carolina High School Exit Examination (HSEE) was given at grade 10 (state assessment extant data). This test has not been timed for any students completing it, and so all students in the current study were given unlimited time to complete the test. Participants also were linked with their previous state mathematics assessment in grade 8.

It was found that the test structure remained rather stable across the three groups. Controlling for student background variables, disabled students under oral administration performed better than disabled students on the non-accommodated format. On the non-accommodated format, students with disabilities fared worse than general education students.