Extended Time Testing

As a special education teacher, I can tell you that if your son has a current IEP and it has been noted on the IEP to allow for extended time - if its not there, have it included!- he will be given all the time he needs (within reason) to complete his test. This should also be done for any of his class assignments. By within reason, I mean as long as he is working to complete the test/assignment, there should not be any time limit imposed. Any special ed teacher at the school will be able to answer questions at any time. We are more than happy to work with parents!LI wrote:
>
> In response to requests that I made last year, my son’s
> private school has agreed to allow him to have extended time
> for standardized testing this year, in 6th grade, in view of
> certain reading and processing issues that impede him from
> completing the tests in the time normally allotted. (While
> his decoding is pretty good these days he still reads very
> slowly.)
>
> This is the first time this school has allowed for extended
> time testing. I know little about the specifics of extended
> time testing and I am wondering if there is some amount of
> additional time that is normally allowed for extended time
> testing or if it is more a matter of how much additional time
> the child indicates he/she needs to finish when they are in
> the actual test. (My son is able to fill in the bubbles
> himself and doesn’t need to have the questions read to him -
> it is just a matter of additional time.)
>
> Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

Hi LI,
Also check to see if the test allows for Sp. ed. modifications. I test students who have LDs and there is a place on the test to mark whether the conditions have been modified. Glad to hear the school is cooperating. I know these tests can be very stressful for young people, especially if they don’t have enough time to complete them.

There are customs around standardized testing but that doesn’t mean your son’s school needs to adhere to those customs.

With SATS, for example, there are three catagories of increased time for testing. One is to allow 50% more time, another 100% more time, and the last is to give unlimited time.

What standardized test are they administering? And for what purpose? The pleasant reality is that in a private school, standardized tests are usually administered for no real reason other than long standing tradition. The private school in which I teach gives a standardized test to all our students every year but the test results get filed on a shelf and, as a school, we do nothing with them. A child’s results on them are inconsequential to our planning for that child.

You might want to consider what use the test results will be put to as you consider how much time you’d like them to give him.