Sokal, L., & Vermette, L. A. (2017). Double time? Examining extended testing time accommodations (ETTA) in postsecondary settings . Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability , 30 (2), 185–200. https://www.ahead.org/professional-resources/publications/jped

[no doi reported]; also located on ERIC online database: https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1153576

The extended testing time accommodation (ETTA) was examined in two postsecondary settings. Specifically, researchers investigated whether students were given the appropriate amount of extended time and whether students’ use of this accommodation decreased over time.

Secondary data from 8,857 exams provided by student accessibility service offices at two Canadian postsecondary institutions–a smaller postsecondary institution that offered primarily undergraduate coursework and a larger postsecondary institution that offered undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs– were examined.

Exam data across both postsecondary institutions were analyzed to investigate whether students with disabilities used their allotted extended time during exams and whether the amount of extended time that students used changed over time.

While there were no statistically significant differences between test duration times at the two postsecondary institutions, there was a significant difference between the amount of extended time these postsecondary institutions provided students. The duration of ETTA was slightly longer at the smaller postsecondary institution (by an average of 5 minutes). Students at the smaller postsecondary institution only used 72% of their allotted extended time, and students at the larger postsecondary institution used 75% of their allotted extended time. Researchers concluded that many students with disabilities did not use their full allotted extended testing time. Additionally, the amount of testing time that students used increased between first and third level courses. This increase stopped between students' third and fourth years but did not decrease.