Supplementing teacher judgments of mathematics test accommodations with objective data sources

This study examined the utility of a data-based assessment process to suppl ement teacher Judgments about test accommodations. One hundred ninety-two s tudents with learning disabilities (LD) and Isl students without LD complet ed 2 computations curriculum-based measurements (CBMs) (standard; extended time); 4 concepts and applications CBMs (standard, extended time, calculato rs, reading text aloud); and 5 problem-solving CBMs (standard, extended tim e, calculators, reading text aloud, encoding). CBM scores were used to exam ine whether students with LD benefited differentially from accommodations; estimate "typical" accommodation boosts among nondisabled students; and awa rd accommodations to students with LD whose boosts exceeded the "typical" b oost. Then, teachers provided independent accommodation judgments and stude nts with LD completed large-scale assessments with and without accommodatio ns. Students with LD, as a group, profited differentially from accommodatio ns on problem-solving CBMs, but not on conventional CBMs; teachers over-awa rded accommodations; and CBM accommodation boosts predicted differential pe rformance on large-scale assessments and supplemented teacher judgments in important ways.