Research on test accommodations provides valuable information that informs policy and practice. The National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO) has reported on accommodations research since 1999. It recently published an update on the accommodations research literature published in 2022 titled A Summary of the Research on the Effects of K-12 Test Accommodations: 2022. This report presents a synthesis of the research literature on testing accommodations for U.S. elementary and secondary students (K–12).

NCEO identified four research studies on testing accommodations that met the criteria for inclusion. This was fewer studies than in previous years. The limited number of published studies focusing on accommodations may be the result of gaps in testing data due to COVID-19, as well as other lingering effects of the pandemic.

All the studies published in 2022 that met the criteria were dissertations. These studies addressed several topics including research on teacher, student, and parent perceptions and perspectives regarding accommodations. Primary data were collected for all of these studies, and most of the studies used qualitative methods. The studies published in 2022 included studies conducted at the elementary, middle school, and high school levels. The studies addressed the use of accommodations on mathematics, reading, and science assessments; one study did not specify the content area.

For longitudinal information about how the research literature addresses specific accommodations, see NCEO’s Accommodations Toolkit. It contains easy-to-use summaries of the academic research literature on specific accommodations for students with disabilities as well as policy analyses.