Opinion Essay on Disability Accommodations

[lightning]

We are simply seeing the end product of the K-12 disability accommodations infrastructure:

https://ctmirror.org/2024/09/29/cant-read-high-school-ct-hartford/

And, the k-12 Assessment-Industrial Complex

I'm sure there was an Assessment report on file somewhere that had the data to prove that no child was being left behind.

[marshwiggle]

One point that hasn't been made explicitly yet is that accommodations undermine the idea of universal design. Any efforts made to prevent people from being restricted by certain conditions are completely ignored by automatically requiring specific accommodations for certain people, regardless of whether those particular conditions have been incorporated into the design.

I don't think this is true. Universal design (which I have usually seen applied to things like readings and syllabi, rather than course structure) that is universally inclusive would mean that there is no need for accommodations, rather than "undermining" accommodations. For instance, instead of giving two hours to take a two-hour test, give students 24 hours and make it a take-home test.

I got rid of exams years ago, because what I teach I can evaluate with projects. But for subjects where that isn't possible, exams are necessary, and in-person exams are a way to prevent cheating. The more freedom students have when writing exams, the more ways there are to cheat. Other than having students have individual oral examinations by the instructor, there's no getting around that. Take-home exams basically allow students to have access to the internet, previous students who took the course, their friends taking the course, and more. For many subjects, that will make the results meaningless.

But where universal design is not possible, then accommodations should be available.

What's strange is the vagueness in identification of the problem, with  the rigid specificity of the solution.

• What constitutes a "learning disability" is very broad.
• It can be "evaluated" by all kinds of people who are not experts in cognitive psychology or related fields.
• Staff in disability offices at institutions who grant accommodations are also not experts in any of those fields.
• Staff in disability offices at institutions who grant accommodations are also not experts in any of the disciplines being taught, to understand the pedagogical purpose of course structure and requirements.
• Despite the variation is students' abilities and challenges, something like "20 minutes more per hour" on tests is magically appropriate for all of them. (Not 15 minutes or 30 minutes; exactly 20???)

Basically, it's vastly more about institutions being seen to be Doing Something(TM), rather than about trying to determine in any meaningful way what is actually appropriate and helpful in a specific situation.

[Langue_doc]

moved to the Teaching thread