Mathematics Assessment Accommodations: Implications of Differential Boost for Students With Learning Disabilities

The inclusion of students with learning disabilities (LD) in assessment is deemed critical to improve the quality of educational opportunities for these students and to provide meaningful and useful information about student performance. Mandated inclusion and accountability for progress raise many interesting questions regarding how to fairly, effectively, and validly assess students with LD. This article summarizes and discusses current research on the differential boost theory as a measure of validity when accommodations are used on mathematics tests. Specific recommendations for determining appropriate testing accommodations, and the role instructional accommodations play in this process, are provided.