TESTING ACCOMMODATIONS

Special education and 504 plan students are permitted accommodations and modifications if specified in their educational plans. Similarly, Limited-English Proficient students may be tested with one or more accommodations or modifications to the testing procedures.

Special Education Students

The New Jersey statewide assessments are designed to measure how well all students, achieve the Core Curriculum Content Standards. Special education students must take the statewide assessment unless their individualized education program (IEP) specifically exempts them from taking one or more sections of the assessment. In addition, the academic progress of students with severs disabilities is assessed using the New Jersey Alternate Proficiency Assessment, a portfolio-style assessment.

Special education students requiring accommodations or modifications should be tested using the modified testing procedures specified in their IEP and approved by the Office of Evaluation and Assessment. For a list of permissible accommodations, please consult the Accommodations and Modifications of Test Administration Procedures. The director of the Office of Evaluation and Assessment, upon written district request, may approve modifications not listed.

504 Plan Students

Students who are eligible for accommodations or modifications under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 may not be classified as special education, but have an impairment of a major life function such as performing manual tasks, walking, seeing, hearing, speaking etc. Any accommodations or modifications for Section 504 eligible students must be specified in the student’s accommodation plan and must be consistent with the instruction and assessment procedures in the classroom.

Limited-English Proficient

All Limited-English Proficient (LEP) students must take the New Jersey statewide assessments and may be tested with one or more accommodations in the test administration procedure. These accommodations may include:

• additional time up to 150% of the administration times indicated;

• translation of the test directions only into the student’s native language; and

• use of a Bilingual translation dictionary.

Starting in the 2003-2004 school year, the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA) Special Review Assessment (SRA) Performance Assessment Tasks (PATs) will be available in Spanish, Portuguese and Gujarati. No other New Jersey statewide assessment has a non-English version of the test.