asking students who have flexible deadlines accommodations to work ahead?

[Caracal]

What is the criteria for 1.5x normal time for tests compared to 2x? When folks say "evidence-based," I do not see evidence on a disability services website. You would think it would be helpful to post some literature on how accommodations help students, but I just don't see it at many institutions.

Came across this article, "Double Time? Examining Extended Testing Time Accommodations (ETTA) in Postsecondary Settings" that discussed how accommodations are not meeting student needs.

https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1153576

Accommodations are determined individually, after evaluation by appropriate healthcare professionals (generally a neuropsychologist). If a student has 2x rather than 1.5x extra time (which is rare in my experience) it is because their disability was determined to require it--why is private health information that we as faculty have no legal or ethical right to see. That is why the letters just list the accommodations and do not tell you what the disability is.

I did look at the abstract of the paper you linked to, and it seems to have the strong assumption that if accommodations are "working" students should use them less over time. To me that is very much the wrong criteria. It's like saying that if wheelchair ramps are "working" they will be used less over time. The point of accommodations is to more equal access for students to succeed, not to make their disability go away.

It's important to remember that school is an artificial environment and assessment is the most artificial part of the whole enterprise. To the extent that students might need fewer accommodations as they go through their academic career, it will usually be because assessments become less artificial and they will have the ability to create their own conditions where they can succeed without needing to involve disability services. A student who needs extra time on exams can figure out their own work schedule for a senior thesis, for example.

[onthefringe]

What is the criteria for 1.5x normal time for tests compared to 2x? When folks say "evidence-based," I do not see evidence on a disability services website. You would think it would be helpful to post some literature on how accommodations help students, but I just don't see it at many institutions.

Came across this article, "Double Time? Examining Extended Testing Time Accommodations (ETTA) in Postsecondary Settings" that discussed how accommodations are not meeting student needs.

https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1153576

Accommodations are determined individually, after evaluation by appropriate healthcare professionals (generally a neuropsychologist). If a student has 2x rather than 1.5x extra time (which is rare in my experience) it is because their disability was determined to require it--why is private health information that we as faculty have no legal or ethical right to see. That is why the letters just list the accommodations and do not tell you what the disability is.

I agree this is the goal. I don't think it always describes what happens behind the scenes. Our disability folks clearly care about students and want them to succeed. But they are also overburdened and will try to make the issues they see into nails that match the most straightforward hammers at their disposal. They are also highly motivated by not being sued. I have a colleague with a student who has 4x time on assessments as an accommodation. So he gets 8(!) hours to complete a 2 hour final. It would take a lot to convince me that this is the best accommodation for anyonee

[kaysixteen]

You are right to note that I have mostly only been the only Latin guy where I have taught, whether k12 or higher, though I was a VAP back in '06 for a semester, where there was another classicist.   Then, I did have to follow the syllabus given me by the guy I was covering for (emergency leave), and, in any case, courses like the advanced seminar I also taught then are usually more syllabus-ized.   But even advanced classics courses are dependent on the skills of the class in question.  If you gotta slow up, you gotta slow up.   Missing out on large quantities of adequately comprehended grammar will just not allow those students to advance to the readings they will encounter if they do go forward.

Something else that has dawned on me and probably should be mentioned-- it is much much easier to teach something like Latin via the set syllabus method when, ahem, the students really actually want to be taking Latin.

[Caracal]

What is the criteria for 1.5x normal time for tests compared to 2x? When folks say "evidence-based," I do not see evidence on a disability services website. You would think it would be helpful to post some literature on how accommodations help students, but I just don't see it at many institutions.

Came across this article, "Double Time? Examining Extended Testing Time Accommodations (ETTA) in Postsecondary Settings" that discussed how accommodations are not meeting student needs.

https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1153576

Accommodations are determined individually, after evaluation by appropriate healthcare professionals (generally a neuropsychologist). If a student has 2x rather than 1.5x extra time (which is rare in my experience) it is because their disability was determined to require it--why is private health information that we as faculty have no legal or ethical right to see. That is why the letters just list the accommodations and do not tell you what the disability is.

I agree this is the goal. I don't think it always describes what happens behind the scenes. Our disability folks clearly care about students and want them to succeed. But they are also overburdened and will try to make the issues they see into nails that match the most straightforward hammers at their disposal. They are also highly motivated by not being sued. I have a colleague with a student who has 4x time on assessments as an accommodation. So he gets 8(!) hours to complete a 2 hour final. It would take a lot to convince me that this is the best accommodation for anyonee

I doubt the student is really spending 8 hours on the final, though. It's just an untimed exam. Usually when I give exams only a couple of students actually use all of the time allotted. If everyone was still furiously working away a minute before the end of the exam that would probably mean I was asking students to do  too much. I'm not trying to put anyone under time pressure, so if a student is put under time pressure by the standard time constraints, it doesn't bother me if they have as much time as they might need.

Of course, at my school this all gets done at the testing center. Certainly, it isn't reasonable to ask an instructor to sit there for up to 8 hours!

[onthefringe]

What is the criteria for 1.5x normal time for tests compared to 2x? When folks say "evidence-based," I do not see evidence on a disability services website. You would think it would be helpful to post some literature on how accommodations help students, but I just don't see it at many institutions.

Came across this article, "Double Time? Examining Extended Testing Time Accommodations (ETTA) in Postsecondary Settings" that discussed how accommodations are not meeting student needs.

https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1153576

Accommodations are determined individually, after evaluation by appropriate healthcare professionals (generally a neuropsychologist). If a student has 2x rather than 1.5x extra time (which is rare in my experience) it is because their disability was determined to require it--why is private health information that we as faculty have no legal or ethical right to see. That is why the letters just list the accommodations and do not tell you what the disability is.

I agree this is the goal. I don't think it always describes what happens behind the scenes. Our disability folks clearly care about students and want them to succeed. But they are also overburdened and will try to make the issues they see into nails that match the most straightforward hammers at their disposal. They are also highly motivated by not being sued. I have a colleague with a student who has 4x time on assessments as an accommodation. So he gets 8(!) hours to complete a 2 hour final. It would take a lot to convince me that this is the best accommodation for anyonee

I doubt the student is really spending 8 hours on the final, though. It's just an untimed exam. Usually when I give exams only a couple of students actually use all of the time allotted. If everyone was still furiously working away a minute before the end of the exam that would probably mean I was asking students to do  too much. I'm not trying to put anyone under time pressure, so if a student is put under time pressure by the standard time constraints, it doesn't bother me if they have as much time as they might need.

Of course, at my school this all gets done at the testing center. Certainly, it isn't reasonable to ask an instructor to sit there for up to 8 hours!

I also design exams that should be (and are based on observation) easy to complete in the time frame by at least the strongest 1/2 of the students. In my experience the ones that use the whole time are rarely using it efficiently. They are either scrambling to write down everything they think they have ever heard me say in hopes that some fraction of it might be applicable to the question at hand, or they are staring at the ceiling hoping for some kind of inspiration. I have direct experience of a student "taking" four hours to complete a 55 minute exam (it did not go well).

[the_geneticist]

There is always that one student who will have finished the exam, triple checked their answers, and still refuses to turn it in until the bitter end.  Why?!? 
Wouldn't they rather go for a walk, get a snack, not have to sit in the dreadfully uncomfortable lecture hall seats?
I want to say "the gods of knowledge are not going to bless you with divine inspiration in the next X minutes.  Just call it good enough.  Please."
The students who know they are going to fail typically just turn it in and leave.  It's the "My life will be RUINED if I don't get an A+" students that agonize.

[Puget]

There is always that one student who will have finished the exam, triple checked their answers, and still refuses to turn it in until the bitter end.  Why?!? 
Wouldn't they rather go for a walk, get a snack, not have to sit in the dreadfully uncomfortable lecture hall seats?
I want to say "the gods of knowledge are not going to bless you with divine inspiration in the next X minutes.  Just call it good enough.  Please."
The students who know they are going to fail typically just turn it in and leave.  It's the "My life will be RUINED if I don't get an A+" students that agonize.

Oh yes, here this is at least 10% of the class. I give a regular length exam during finals and still some students insist on staying for the full 3 hour exam block (we are required to give them 3 hours regardless).

[MarathonRunner]

What is the criteria for 1.5x normal time for tests compared to 2x? When folks say "evidence-based," I do not see evidence on a disability services website. You would think it would be helpful to post some literature on how accommodations help students, but I just don't see it at many institutions.

Came across this article, "Double Time? Examining Extended Testing Time Accommodations (ETTA) in Postsecondary Settings" that discussed how accommodations are not meeting student needs.

https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1153576

It's not always 1.5 or 2 times though. When I had a severe concussion in fourth year undergrad, and only two required classes to graduate, I had extra time, final  exams split into two parts, written in a private room (quiet location), and the exam on pale blue paper, as that's what my medical team and the accommodations staff deemed was most appropriate, and didn't burden the profs, they just had to decide where to split the exam (I had no access to my notes during the downtime between sections, and just rested with my eyes shut). I also got a private room with dim lighting.

Reducing cognitive load/managing cognitive time was important for concussion recovery and future health. Even daily activities were split into manageable chunks to avoid future problems. It's not one size fits all. Other people with other issues had different accommodations. Some just got private rooms. Some extra time. Some coloured paper. Some computer assist (either to write or to both read and write). One of my blind friends had very different accommodations from anyone else.

It may be difficult in other countries, but the three universities I've been at in Canada have very well educated, trained, accessibility staff, who know their stuff, work with the medical diagnosis, the student, the course requirements, and the course prof/instructor, to come up with accommodations that are fair, not burdensome on the prof/instructor, and meet the students' needs, as outlined by their medical team.

[mamselle]

Sorry that happened to you, but very glad you got such good, appropriate care.

M.