Accurate measurement of student progress is the cornerstone of effective instruction. When diagnostic and progress assessments pinpoint learning gaps or needs, even well-intentioned accommodations—such as audio support—can inadvertently mask the difficulties educators are trying to uncover. While accommodations are essential and legally mandated for gatekeeper assessments like the SAT and high stakes state assessments, applying them to diagnostic assessments undermines our ability to identify and address students’ true learning needs.
Distinguishing Assessment Purposes
Gatekeeper Assessments
Gatekeeper assessments, such as the SAT, are high-stakes tools used by colleges to determine admissions eligibility. These tests are designed to evaluate a student’s content knowledge, reasoning, and problem-solving abilities rather than their raw reading skills. Because of their role in college admissions and the requirements set forth by laws like the Americans with Disabilities Act, providing accommodations on these exams is both appropriate and necessary. Accommodations—like audio support—help level the playing field, ensuring that students with disabilities are assessed on their true potential rather than their reading ability.
Diagnostic and Progress Assessments
In contrast, diagnostic assessments are low-stakes tools aimed at identifying specific learning weaknesses early in the academic year. Their purpose is to inform educators about which students are at risk of falling behind and in which areas, such as reading or math, targeted intervention is needed. By maintaining the integrity of the test—without masking a student's challenges—these assessments serve as a roadmap for educators to design effective, individualized support strategies.
The Hidden Costs of Unwarranted Accommodations
Masking True Learning Challenges
When accommodations like audio support are provided on reading diagnostic assessments, they can obscure a student’s actual skill level. For example, if a student with reading difficulties is given audio support on a reading assessment, their score might inaccurately reflect no need for support. This false-on-level performance masks the underlying reading weakness, preventing timely intervention. The purpose of the diagnostic is lost when the tool no longer identifies the precise area in need of improvement.
Compromising Progress Monitoring
Educators rely on diagnostic assessments to measure progress over time. Consistently high scores achieved through accommodations can lead to a misinterpretation of a student’s growth. If a student’s reading ability is supported by audio during the assessment, improvements in their independent reading skills remain hidden. Consequently, educators might assume that no intervention is necessary, even as the student’s core reading challenges persist.
The Role of Intentional Design
Some assessments, such as math diagnostics, incorporate audio support for directions and non-critical text to ensure that reading challenges do not interfere with measuring mathematical understanding. This strategic use of accommodations is effective because the goal is to isolate and evaluate specific skills. In contrast, providing accommodations in areas where the skill itself—like decoding in reading—is the focus, fundamentally distorts the diagnostic purpose. It transforms an assessment designed to reveal learning deficits into one that merely reflects the accommodation’s benefits.
Practical Implications for Educators
Educators can recognize that the goal of diagnostic assessments is to reveal true areas of need. When accommodations interfere with this objective, they delay or prevent the delivery of targeted interventions that could significantly improve student outcomes. Here are some key considerations:
Clarity of Purpose: Use accommodations judiciously by distinguishing between assessments meant for diagnosing learning gaps and those used as gatekeeping tools. Reserve accommodations like audio support for high-stakes tests where fairness and legal mandates require them.
Accurate Data for Intervention: Ensure that diagnostic assessments are administered in a way that accurately captures a student’s independent skills. The resulting data is critical for designing personalized interventions and preventing long-term academic struggles.
Professional Judgment: Understand that while accommodations are critical in certain contexts, their application must be carefully aligned with the intended outcomes of the assessment. This alignment is essential for maintaining the diagnostic power of the assessment tools and ultimately for the academic success of each student.
An Example: Alex
Consider the case of Alex, a third-grader who initially struggled with reading fluency and decoding skills. Through targeted individual reading intervention, Alex made remarkable progress—improving his decoding abilities, increasing his reading speed, and enhancing comprehension, all of which were clearly evident in his daily classroom performance. However, when his progress was measured using diagnostic and progress assessments administered with read aloud audio support, his scores remained unchanged throughout the school year. The audio support, while beneficial for accessibility, inadvertently masked the true extent of his independent reading improvements, leading to a misleading interpretation that his reading skills had stagnated and that the intervention was ineffective.
An Example: Maya
Consider the case of Maya, a middle school student who has been struggling with basic math calculations. To accommodate her needs, her diagnostic assessment allowed the use of a calculator, and as a result, her performance appeared flawless—her scores indicated a perfect grasp of math operations. However, this perfect score masked her underlying difficulty: Maya had developed only the procedural skill of operating a calculator, not a deep understanding of the fundamental math concepts. When the curriculum advanced to more complex problems that required strong mental arithmetic and conceptual reasoning, it became evident that her reliance on the calculator was concealing critical gaps in her learning. Consequently, her teachers, misled by the diagnostic results, were left uncertain about how to provide the targeted intervention necessary to build a solid foundation in math operations, ultimately hindering her progress in mastering advanced mathematical concepts.
When it is Appropriate to Provide Accommodations on Diagnostic Assessments
Diagnostic and progress assessments are designed to pinpoint students’ learning needs and track academic growth, but for students with disabilities that affect every learning context—such as those with visual impairments or hearing challenges—it is both appropriate and essential to provide the same accommodations they use in the classroom. For instance, a student who is visually impaired should receive accommodations like enlarged texts or screen readers on diagnostic assessments, ensuring that the evaluation accurately reflects their true understanding rather than the limitations imposed by their disability. Similarly, students with hearing challenges should have access to supports such as sign language interpreters or assistive listening devices during these assessments. These accommodations do not mask learning difficulties but rather level the playing field so that all students are evaluated on their actual skills and knowledge.
Conclusion
Accommodations play a vital role in leveling the playing field for students in high-stakes, gatekeeping assessments like the SAT. However, when the same accommodations are applied to diagnostic and progress assessments, they risk masking the very challenges educators need to identify and address. By keeping these assessment purposes distinct, educators can better support student growth and ensure that intervention strategies are both timely and precisely targeted. For the sake of effective teaching and learning, it is crucial to preserve the diagnostic integrity of assessments—ensuring that every student’s true needs are seen and met.