Ketterlin-Geller, L. R., Yovanoff, P., & Tindal, G. (2007). Developing a new paradigm for conducting research on accommodations in mathematics testing . Exceptional Children , 73 (3), 331–347. https://doi.org/10.1177/001440290707300304

Two reading-based accommodations, read-aloud and simplified language, were examined in terms of their effects on the performance of lower and higher readers, and potential for differential benefits of accommodations on test scores.

Participants were 160 grade 3 students from 12 classrooms in 5 schools in the Pacific Northwest (U.S.). Special education students numbered 28: 1 student was identified as having emotional disability, 10 had communication disorders, 11 had specific learning disability, and 6 students had an unspecified disability. Demographic characteristics including sex and ethnicity, as well as reading skill levels, were also reported.

Performance on a 50-item grade 3 mathematics test was analyzed. The researchers constructed the test, and administered it via computer.

Students with lower reading skills differentially benefited from the read-aloud accommodation on items with high mathematics difficulty and high linguistic complexity but did not benefit from a simplified language accommodation. This study illustrates the need to consider the interaction between item features and student characteristics in accommodations research. Limitations of the study were reported, and future research possibilities were suggested.