Schulte, A. A. G. (2000). Experimental analysis of the effects of testing accommodations on the students’ standardized mathematics test scores (Publication No. 9982260) [Doctoral dissertation, The University of Wisconsin—Madison]. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global. https://www.proquest.com/docview/304647412

The University of Wisconsin—Madison; ProQuest document ID: 304647412

Students with disabilities received accommodations based on their individual needs. Twenty different accommodations packages comprising between two and seven accommodations each—presentation, timing, and setting—were documented. Each student without a disability was randomly assigned to receive a set of accommodations corresponding to one of the students with disabilities. All students completed one form of the test without accommodations and one form of the test with accommodations.

Eighty-six (86) grade 4 students participated in the study (36 females and 50 males). Forty-three (43) of these students were identified with disabilities by the state of Wisconsin or Iowa (U.S.). These included students with learning disabilities, speech/language disabilities, and mild cognitive disabilities. All students were Caucasian with the exception of one African-American student.

The TerraNova Multiple Assessment Battery (CTB/McGraw-Hill, 1997) mathematics subtest was used as the dependent variable. This assessment is composed of three parts: (Part One) computation problems, simple word problems requiring single computation, and estimation skills. (Part Two) concepts and application skills; problems require a variety of strategies to arrive at solutions. (Part Three) constructed-response items in which students have to describe solutions and evaluate problem situations.

Both students with and without disabilities, as groups, experienced a beneficial effect from test accommodations. Although students with disabilities experienced a larger effect in the accommodated condition than did students without disabilities, the difference between groups was not significant. Students with disabilities profited more than students without disabilities on the multiple choice items, but not the constructed response items. The accommodation package of extra time and read test items to student did not have a differential impact for students with disabilities when compared to students without disabilities. Students with disabilities receiving accommodation packages other than just extra time and read test items to student experienced a statistically significant and differential impact of testing accommodations on math scores. [See also Schulte (2000); Schulte, Elliott, & Kratochwill (2001)]