NCEO recently published a new report on high school accommodations policies, 2015-16 High School Assessment Accommodations Policies: An Analysis of ACT, SAT, PARCC and Smarter Balanced. As required by federal and state legislation, all students, including students with disabilities and English learners (ELs), participate in state assessments used for accountability. Some states use assessments developed by consortia of states (e.g., Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers – PARCC, Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium –Smarter Balanced). States also are required to ensure that graduating students are college- and career-ready (CCR). Some states use state-administrations of the ACT or SAT as their measure of CCR.

Many students with disabilities and ELs use accommodations to access the ACT, SAT, PARCC, and Smarter Balanced assessments. This report analyzes differences in the accessibility framework, decision-making process, and terminology across the four assessments. Variation was evident across the four tests in how accommodations were included in the policies.