When accurately assigned and administered appropriately, testing accommodations help ameliorate the effects of personal characteristics that limit access to critical information and prevent a person from demonstrating his or her true abilities in the tested domain. Inaccurate assignment or misuse of accommodations may counteract the benefits of accommodations and introduce sources of measurement error. In this study, we investigated the consistency of accommodation assignments across 38 third-grade students' Individualized Education Programs (IEPs), teacher recommendations, and student performance data. We found inconsistencies between the accommodations listed on the IEP and the teachers' recommendations. Similar results were observed when comparing either IEP or teacher recommendations with students' performance. These inconsistencies are interpreted in light of federal mandates and best practices.

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This study explores the transformation of pre-service teachers in their attainment of effective teaching skills. Pre-service teachers learn about the learning-to-read process and implementations of component skills of teaching reading within the practicum. More importantly, pre-service teachers achieve a meaningful understanding of the declarative, procedural and strategic knowledge of working with struggling readers as well as the merits, utilities and appropriate applications of important literacy skills. Through reflecting, rehearsing, and revising teaching/learning practices, pre-service teachers are able to augment scripted Direct Instruction curriculum to improve student reading performance, and further generate meaningful learning gains that promote sustainability for themselves and their students.

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