The Role of Extended Time on the SAT^® for Students with Learning Disabilities and/or Attention‐Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Abstract

Accommodation policymaking and practice should be guided by empirical research and informed clinical judgment. Findings from our study can provide information to test users about the validity of inferences that can be made from scores obtained from accommodated test administrations for students with disabilities. The factor structure of the newly revised Scholastic Aptitude Reasoning Test (SAT , 2005) was examined across two groups of students (students without disabilities tested under standard time conditions, and students with disabilities tested with extended time) to determine whether the test measures the same construct for both groups. Invariance across the two groups was supported for all parameters of interest, suggesting that the scores on the Critical Reading, Math, and Writing sections of the SAT Reasoning Test can be interpreted in the same way when students have an extended-time administration as opposed to the standard-time administration.One of the most significant barriers facing students qualified to receive specific accommodations is the lack of professional knowledge pertaining to the issues surrounding accommodations. Understanding these issues on high-stakes tests begins with recognition of the consequences for individuals with disabilities who are not provided equal opportunities to demonstrate knowledge. The percentage of students with disabilities going on to postsecondary education and later to professional schools is still less than half that of their peers in the general population (Wagner, Newman, Cameto, Garza, & Levine, 2005). The findings from the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 (Wagner et al., 2005) indicate that approximately 1 out of 5 "out-of-secondary-school youth with disabilities" (19 percent) currently attends postsecondary school, a rate that is less than half that of their peers without disabilities (40 percent; pp. 4-8). By contrast, the rate of enrollment of adolescents with disabilities in 2-year community colleges is not significantly different from that of their peers in the general population (10 percent vs. 12 percent). However, similarage youth without disabilities are more than four and one-half times as likely as youth with disabilities to be currently taking Requests for reprints should be sent to Jennifer Hartwig Lindstrom, Department

High-Stakes Test Accommodations

“…Ancestry and descendent searches were conducted using relevant studies and literature reviews (i.e., Chiu & Pearson, 1999;Fuchs & Fuchs, 2001;Gregg & Nelson, 2010;Johnstone, Altman, Thurlow, & Thompson, 2006;Koenig & Bachman, 2004;Sireci, 2008;Sireci, Li, & Scarpati, 2006;Thompson et al, 2002). Studies were excluded if the primary purpose was to (a) investigate classroom accommodations (e.g., MacArthur & Haynes, 1995), (b) investigate multiple accommodations where a specific one could not be determined (e.g., Elliott, Kratochwill, & McKevitt, 2001), or (c) investigate changes to the construct being measured (e.g., Lindstrom & Gregg, 2007). If other students with disabilities were included in the sample, the majority of students needed to be identified as LD.…”

“…As such, studies were not included if numbers of students with LD were not reported or findings for these students were not disaggregated (e.g., Tindal et al, 1998). Studies were excluded if the primary purpose was to (a) investigate classroom accommodations (e.g., MacArthur & Haynes, 1995), (b) investigate multiple accommodations where a specific one could not be determined (e.g., Elliott, Kratochwill, & McKevitt, 2001), or (c) investigate changes to the construct being measured (e.g., Lindstrom & Gregg, 2007). Studies were reviewed for information about subjects (e.g., disability, grade), accommodation, measures (e.g., state test), methodology (e.g., well-controlled studies with comparisons between standard and accommodated administrations of parallel test forms, inclusion of students with and without disabilities), and findings (e.g., evidence of differential boost).…”

College Students With ADHD

“…Unfortunately, this assumption has not received extensive empirical scrutiny. Lindstrom and Gregg (2007) evaluated performance on the Scholastic Aptitude Reading Test (SAT) for college students without disabilities tested under standard time conditions (n = 2, 476) relative to students with disabilities tested with extended time (n = 2, 476; 959 of whom had ADHD with or without LD). Approximately 80% of students with disabilities were provided time-and-a-half, while the remainder received double time.…”

Extended Time Testing Accommodations for Students With Disabilities

“…More recently, Lindstrom and Gregg (2007) used confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to examine the factor structures of the sections of the new SAT for nondisabled students who took the test at standard time and students with disabilities (learning disabilities, ADHD, or both) who took the test under extended time conditions. 3 To make the two groups equal in size, a random sample of nondisabled examinees was taken, leading to 2,476 students in each group.…”