DiRosa, F. (2007). The impact of testing accommodations on individual postsecondary student test outcomes (Publication No. 3268142) [Doctoral dissertation, Temple University]. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global. https://www.proquest.com/docview/304810550

Temple University (Philadelphia, PA); ProQuest document ID: 304810550

The extended-time accommodation and the read-aloud accommodation through audiotape format were studied systematically. Each study participant completed the assessment individually, under four different conditions: standard administration (without accommodations), audiotape format, standard text with extended-time, and audiotape format with extended-time. The goal of this study was to provide empirically based insight into the effects of testing accommodations on individual student performance.

Ten postsecondary students with documented reading disabilities participated, from an unidentified community college (U.S.). Additional demographic data about the participants were reported.

The Assessment of Skills for Successful Entry and Transfer (ASSET) test on reading comprehension comprised the dependent variable. Participants were also interviewed about their experiences, asking about which aspects of the accommodations were helpful and not helpful, and under which testing condition they were most and least successful.

The accommodations were found to benefit some students with learning disabilities some of the time, but neither of the accommodations singularly or combined benefited all of the students all of the time. Further, not all of the participants (after completing the four tests) predicted accurately the testing condition in which they performed most successfully. Limitations of the study were reported, and future research possibilities were suggested.