Randall, J., & Engelhard, G., Jr. (2010). Performance of students with and without disabilities under modified conditions: Using resource guides and read-aloud test modifications on a high-stakes reading test . The Journal of Special Education , 44 (2), 79–93. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022466908331045

Also located on journal webpage https://sed.sagepub.com/content/44/2/79

Clarifying a distinction between modifications and accommodations, researchers offer three criteria—and designed the study to examine the impact of test modifications in the form of resource guide and oral delivery ("read-aloud").

Student data from Georgia (U.S.) were sampled in two grade bands. The total students participating through this sampling numbered 1,940, with 945 in grades 3–4 and 995 in grades 7–8. Of these students, relatively comparable numbers of each group—887 students with disabilities and 1,053 students without disabilities—were drawn from the larger population of all students. [Note: Students with disabilities were deliberately oversampled to have comparable numbers; in fact, about 13% of Georgia students in the related school year were identified as students with disabilities.] Participants' ethnicity and sex statistics were also reported.

The dependent variable in the study was performance on the Georgia Criterion Reference Competency Tests (GA CRCT) in Reading at the fourth grade and seventh grade levels.

The use of the resource guide modification produced a decline in performance for students with disabilities and a slight increase in performance for students without disabilities. The use of the read-aloud modification produced a differential boost for students with disabilities for students completing the CRCT at the lower grade level, yet seventh grade students with disabilities did not demonstrate an increase greater than that of students without disabilities. Discussion of limitations and constraints of the study was presented.