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According the National Center for Education Statistics (2019) in the 2015-2016 academic school year, approximately 19 percent of higher education students reported having a disability. Academic advisors are given the task of recommending course work that will help students meet the requirements for their intended careers. However, before any courses can be recommended students must take college readiness tests that will aid in determining if they are ready for the level of difficulty in the courses. Students with disabilities must receive the accommodations they need so that the results of the tests are accurate. To ensure that students with disabilities receive the accommodations they need is important for students, their families, and professionals in higher education to know what the law states and requires.

Resources:
National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education. (2019). Digest of Education Statistics, 2017. Retrieved from https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d17/ch_3.asp.

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Ms. Irma Pacheco is the Texas Success Initiative Coordinator at Mountain View College. She is in charge of ensuring that students being enrolled in courses at the college meet the requirements to be in the course. She is also in charge of making sure that advisors and other personnel with ability to register or recommend courses are aware of the state requirements regarding student readiness. Even though she does not directly deal with accommodations for students with disabilities, she is required to ensure that disability services and testing services work together so that students with disabilities can take the state mandated testing. (I. Pacheco, Personal communication, 2019).

As academic advisors, we must make sure that our students are enrolled in courses that will benefit them. Once they are enrolled, they rely on their professors to receive the information they will need to be successful in the course. However, before any of that can happen, students with disabilities must have access to resources that will allow them to take their examinations with the least stressors as possible. In higher education students are preparing for their future in the workforce and our duty is to provide them with all the resources they are entitled based on the law. Some of the things we can do to ensure our students are receiving he resources they needs are:

·       To make sure all students, parents, and staff are aware of the resources that can be provided by the disability services office.

·       Provide training to staff so that they can refer students that approach them needing disability services

·       Ensure that no assumptions are being made, as not all personnel are professionally educated or able to provide a diagnosis.

Colleges should be prepared to provide accommodations that make students with disabilities have the same opportunity other students have without making their test scores invalid and that can provide advisors with accurate data to suggest course work. Ms. Pacheco (Personal Communication, 2019) indicates that in the last couple of years the requirements for certain courses have changed due to new policies from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. With these course requirement changes, developmental education and college readiness testing has also changed. Educators should be ready to implement these changes without disregarding the rights students with disabilities have in regard to their testing.

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Association on Higher Education and Disability (AHEAD)

Website: https://www.ahead.org/home

AHEAD held a webinar titled Conversations with Faculty: Assessing Student Accommodation & Accommodation Denial in Higher Education. This webinar was given by:

·       Julie Ballinger, M.A., Southwest ADA Center

·       Melanie Thornton, M.A., University of Arkansas – Partners for Inclusive Communities.

The webinar was aimed towards professors, to teach them about the rights students with disabilities have in their classroom and what they can do to remove barriers to the education of these students. However, the webinar also provides important information that any college employee should have knowledge of.

Resources:

Association on Higher Education and Disabilities. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.ahead.org/home.

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Abuse Of 'Extended Time' On SAT and ACT Outrages Learning Disability Community

Summary of article:

·       After the college admissions bribery scandal blew up, it was revealed that testing accommodations were utilized to allow those students to cheat.

·       Students who really needed the accommodations and have documented disabilities are now feeling anxious to ask for the accommodations they need

·       It is stated that wealthy families have utilized disability accommodations, such as extended time to allow their students to receive more time to complete the test and that way obtain better scores.

·       For students who actually need the extra time, the cheating scandal was form of making it more difficult for them to want to disclose their disability due to the skepticism produced.

Resources:

Anderson, N. (2019). Abuse of 'extended time' on SAT and ACT outrages learning disability community. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/abuse-of-extended-time-on-sat-and-act-outrages-learning-disability-community/2019/03/29/d58de3c6-4c1f-11e9-9663-00ac73f49662_story.html.

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Invisible burdens: students talk accessibility challenges

Summary of article:

·       Students with disabilities attending Rice University have spoken about the struggles they have faced during their time there.

·       They have stated that the buildings are not equipped to accommodate them, and this has caused them to struggle academically.

·       One student mentions that they had to change their entire major based on the accommodations to being available, and another had to withdraw from a course due to their professor not providing the accommodations needed.

·       The article indicates that the Disability Resource Center on campus has been involved with changes to the campus so that all students can benefit from the education provided at Rice.

Resources:

Ramapriyan, R., & Kumar, A. (2019). Invisible burdens: students talk accessibility challenges. Retrieved from https://www.ricethresher.org/article/2019/12/invisible-burdens-students-talk-accessibility-challenges.

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U.S. Const. amend. XIV

Source of Law: Constitutional

Link: https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/amendments-11-27

Summary of the law:
*This amendment indicates that all citizens should receive the same protections as indicated by law.
*The amendment is not very specific; therefore, it is open to interpretation.
*Individuals with disabilities should receive all protections such as any other individual would. This means they should receive all the benefits and accommodations they need.

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Accommodations, 19 TAC §101.3013.

Source of Law: Administrative

Link: http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/rules/tac/chapter101/ch101cc.html#division1

Summary of the law:
*This law indicates that students should receive the accommodations they need to take an assessment.
*The accommodations they are eligible for would be the same as they would receive in a classroom setting. *However, this law indicates that if the accommodation invalidates the assessment, the accommodation will not be allowed.

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Nondiscrimination on the basis of disability by public accommodations and in commercial facilities, 28 CFR § 36.

Source of Law: Administrative

Link: https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/28/part-36

Summary of the law:
*This law indicates that persons with disabilities should receive the accommodations they need when attending any public place, this includes schools and institutions of higher education.
*Therefore, they are eligible to receive testing accommodations to meet the course placement standards implemented by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.

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Secondary-level performance required, Texas Education Code §39.025(a-1)

Source of Law: Statutory

Link: https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/ED/htm/ED.39.htm#39.001

Summary of the law:
*This law indicates that students in Texas are required to comply with the Higher Education Coordinating board’s indication of meeting requirements under the Texas Success Initiative Assessment.
*Since all students entering a higher education institution in Texas must meet TSI requirements, students with disabilities should receive accommodations that will permit them to take the examination.

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Student Welfare, Dallas County Community College District Policy § FF

Link: https://pol.tasb.org/Policy/Download/358?filename=FF(LOCAL).pdf

According to policy implemented by the Dallas County Community College Board of Trustees, students with disabilities are to receive the accommodations they need within all campuses of the college district. The district will ensure that instructional programs and activities are accessible for students with disabilities, this includes testing.

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Association on Higher Education and Disabilities Code of Ethics

Link: https://www.ahead.org/about-ahead/ahead-ethics

Principle number 5 of the Association on Higher Education and Disabilities Code of Ethics (2019) indicates that a professional in higher education must abide by the laws at all levels institutional, local, state, and federal to ensure our students receive all the services needed. The professional must act ethically and legally when providing services to students. Following the ethical principle would apply when a student with disability is testing. We must ensure that the student is receiving accommodations they need to be successful but without giving them an unfair advantage over their peers. Accommodations should provide equity to students not give them advantages.

Resources:

AHEAD Code of Ethics. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.ahead.org/about-ahead/ahead-ethics.

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A Guide to Assessing College Readiness

Link: https://www.iidc.indiana.edu/styles/iidc/defiles/INSTRC/Webinars/College-Readiness_Assessment.pdf

It is a document prepared by Landmark University in Vermont as a guide for Parents of College-Bound Children with Learning Disabilities or ADHD. It is an assessment this college came up with to help parents have an overview of their students predicted success in a college or university. Even though the assessment cannot entirely predict how well a student will do in college it can help students and parents seek the accommodations their student will need in college. Each state handles education in it’s own way, and even though this is an out-of-state document, it can help Texas students ask for accommodations for the Texas mandated college readiness examinations.

Resources:

Landmark College. (2019). A Guide to Assessing College Readiness. Retrieved from https://www.iidc.indiana.edu/styles/iidc/defiles/INSTRC/Webinars/College-Readiness_Assessment.pdf

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1.     Review the rights students with disabilities have when taking college readiness assessments at all levels (institutional, local, state, and federal).

2.     Reach out to the college you intend to attend to find out what accommodations they can provide

3.     Make sure you notify your college that you will need accommodations when testing, as they cannot provide you with them if you do not indicate you need them

4.     If you do not receive the accommodations you need, you should contact the disability services office or your academic advisor so they can ensure you are receiving the services you need.

5.     Keep up with changes in the law, at all levels, regarding students with disabilities, as the laws can change, or new laws can be proposed.

6.     Educators should make all their students aware of the rights they have regarding disabilities, since many students will not disclose that they need accommodations due to the stigma attached to disability services.

7.     Get involved with community or campus organizations that have as an objective educational equality to students with disabilities. Educational equality includes testing.