An accommodation on a state assessment should enable the student to demonstrate the degree of knowledge the student possesses in the content area. When a disability or limited English proficiency prevents the student from being able to demonstrate what he or she knows or is able to do, accommodations may be needed. Accommodations should be provided to ensure that each student receives individual consideration of his or her disability or level of English proficiency.  It is also important that educators help students become familiar with the accommodations provided so they are not using the selected accommodations for the first time on test day.  

It is important to select accommodations based on specific EL needs. Research indicates that ELs with selected accommodations matched to their linguistic and cultural needs scored higher than (a) ELs with incomplete accommodations – i.e., selection done without matching accommodations to EL responsive criteria, and (b) ELs who were not provided any accommodations at all. Remember: the primary purpose of EL assessment accommodations is not to improve ELs’ rate of passing the state assessments but to allow ELs to more accurately demonstrate their knowledge of the content being assessed.