Wizikowski, H. T. (2013). Academic support experiences and perceptions of postsecondary students with disabilities: A public and private university comparison (Publication No. ED552851) [Doctoral dissertation, Claremont Graduate University]. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global. https://www.proquest.com/docview/1347671491

Claremont Graduate University, School of Educational Studies (Claremont, CA); ProQuest document ID: 1347671491; also available on Claremont's webpage: http://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgu_etd/76/

Accommodations reported by survey respondents included various academic supports. This summary emphasizes accommodations during exams, but the researcher did not specify which accommodations were provided, other than to indicate that the examination form or format was changed in some manner for students with disabilities.

The participants were 113 postsecondary students with disabilities in two four-year universities in a western state (U.S.), with 79 students attending the public university, and 34 at the private university. Participants responded to a survey circulated from listservs of the disability support offices at the universities. Participants' disability categories included: other health impairments (47%), learning disabilities (17%), orthopedic impairments (9%), visual impairments (8%); the rest are less than 5% each—autism, intellectual disabilities, deafness and hearing impairments, emotional disabilities, traumatic brain injury, and multiple disabilities. Gender, ethnicity, age, major course of study, and financial aid status were reported for the survey respondents, and the universities' student population demographics were also described.

The dependent variables for this investigation of accommodations use patterns were various self-reported data on the student survey. The primary relevant variable was the incidence of use of exam accommodations, which was related to university type as well as other examinee characteristics. The student survey also measured academic supports' usefulness ratings (from 1=not useful at all to 4=very useful) and degree of satisfaction (from very unsatisfied=1 to very satisfied=4) of respondents with the accommodations and other academic supports offered.

Across both public and private universities, about 93% have received accommodations at some point during their postsecondary study. Regarding accommodations offered during course examinations, about 71% of responding students with disabilities at the public university received these, and about 76% of student participants at the private university received them, averaging 72.5% of student respondents overall. Exam-related accommodations were rated as averaging about 3.6 (with 3=useful, and 4=very useful). As for the degree of satisfaction about academic supports including accommodations, there were no differences between respondents' satisfaction based on university type. For instance, respondents indicated about a 3.55 average satisfaction score (with 3=satisfied and 4=very satisfied) regarding academic support office staff's accommodations knowledge. Other findings pertained to aspects of the study unrelated to accommodations, such as student self-advocacy and the manner by which students sought assistance with academic supports.