• Testing Accommodations
     
    Most organizations require students to apply for accommodations
    several months prior to the test, so please plan ahead! 
     
    Students who currently have an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) may be eligible for accommodations for tests offered at Blaine High School.  Please contact your student's case manager if they have an IEP to ask if this would be appropriate for your student.  Accommodations for some tests (MCA, MAP, MTAS, and ACCESS tests) are determined by the school with input from the student and their family and included in the students IEP.  However, students must apply for accommodations for the ACT or AP tests, and the final decisions are made by those organizations, not the school.  Parents and teachers must provide copies of the students IEP, special education evaluation, and medical documentation (if appropriate) when they register for testing to demonstrate the need for accommodations before they will be granted.
     
    Some common testing accommodations include:
     
    Extended time
    This accommodation may help students that need more time to read and process information. While the MCA, MAP, MTAS and ACCESS tests are not timed and students may take as much time as they need,  the ACT test and AP tests offer Time-and-a-Half, Double Time, or Triple Time based on student need as determined by those organizations.  This often requires the student to test over several days during a 3-week time window.
     
    Testing in small groups
    Some students become very anxious in large groups and may need a smaller setting for their tests.  Most testing is already done in small groups already, but it may be reassuring to students to know that they will not be asked to test in a large auditorium full of students.
     
    Scribe
    Physical disabilities may prevent a student from recording their own answers.  In those cases, a scribe may be assigned to record the students answers for them.
     
    Large-Print
    A visual impairment may prevent a student from being able to see the tests, which are typically 10-point type, so students may request larger-type print based on their visual needs.  Common options include 18-point type and 24-point type.
     
    Having a test read to the student
    When a student needs a long time to read information, this may be an appropriate accommodation.  The MCA and MAP tests are computerized, and allows ALL students to click on a question to have it read to them.  The MTAS is administered individually and always read to the student, and the ACCESS may be read to a student if they have a developmental disability, but is generally not read to students. Students who are approved to have the test read for the ACT often receive a DVD that reads the test to them and allows the student to go back and have a passage re-read, or move forward to the next question.  This is rarely approved for students taking the AP tests.