An accommodation changes how information and concepts are presented or practiced ensuring that each student has the opportunities and support needed to learn. Accommodations do not reduce the learning expectations and should be chosen based on the student’s individual needs and not applied arbitrarily to all MLs. Accommodations are not to be viewed as an advantage to the student; accommodations provide access to the content for the student.

Accommodations:

• Provide access to grade-level curriculum;
• Alter the environment, not the curriculum;
• Do not change the learning outcomes;
• Happen in the content-area classroom; and 
• Should not impact grading, though how learning is assessed may change.

Description

The teacher provides instructive, corrective, and actionable feedback on the student's performance on an assessment and allows that student to either retake or make corrections to their work. 

Examples:

• Colorin Colorado uses the following example: Maria has 24 marbles which is 8 fewer than Paolo has. How many marbles does Paolo have?
• The student has answered 16, rather than 32. 
• In the meeting, the student stated the simple computations were easy, but the word problems were difficult for them. When they walked the teacher through their thought process, they explained that they saw the word “fewer” in the problem, and associated it with subtraction. They subtracted 8 from 24 to get 16. 
• The problem was not with the student’s ability to do the math, but in their misunderstanding of the language. After clarifying that Maria has fewer (less) marbles than Paolo and having the student draw out the scenario, the student understands that Paolo has more marbles than Maria. They are able to walk the teacher through the strategy before they are allowed the time to fix their error. They are able to turn their test back in with the correct answer of 32 marbles.

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It is important to note that this accommodation can also be considered a modification. Temporary modifications can be appropriate for a SLIFE and newcomer MLs: “Districts may use a curriculum that temporarily emphasizes English language acquisition over other subjects, but any interim academic deficits in other subjects must be remedied within a reasonable length of time” (EL Toolkit, Chapter 4). However, long-term modifications are not allowable for students seeking a South Carolina high school diploma.
 

	Teacher	Student
	Meet with student to review the test.  Acknowledge strengths and growth made.  Provide instructive and corrective feedback for student in areas that need improvement.  Ask student to paraphrase what has been reviewed. Offer encouragement.	Meet with teacher to review test. Listen to feedback. Paraphrase what has been reviewed. Retake or correct work applying what was reviewed.

 

	Teacher	Student
	Following Zaretta Hammond’s Asset-Based Feedback Protocol: In a timely manner, review the test. “Let’s go over the test we took yesterday.” Teacher uses specific examples from the test to show evidence of student’s growth. “I can see you made a lot of growth in [area].”  Acknowledge the difficulty of the task and analyze the test with the student. “This was a tricky test. What was easy for you? What was difficult?” Give instructive and corrective feedback, focused on what mastery looks like and where the student is in relation to the goal of mastery. “This question was testing your knowledge on [content]. I know you have it mastered when [the goal]. Can you tell me what steps you took to answer it? I understand your thinking now. Here is where we can make improvements: [instructive and corrective feedback]. Can you tell me how you would do it next time?” Provide encouragement and set up a time to retake or correct. “Exactly! Now you’ll know how to answer this question next time! Why don’t you take this back to your seat to fix your mistake.”	The student explains what they found easy and what they struggled with. The student walks teacher through their thought process. The student paraphrases what the teacher said.

 

Recommended Domain(s)	Recommended Level(s)
Listening, Speaking, Reading, Writing	1 (Emergent)- 5 (Bridging)

Scaffolding

When should the accommodation be removed?

The Allow For Assignment/Assessment Retakes or Corrections accommodation may be removed when a student’s knowledge and use of language is no longer a barrier to their ability to demonstrate their understanding of the test content. Students may need support, especially with academic and technical vocabulary, up to and including the Bridging level. If you have questions, or feel your ML requires a change in their ILAP regarding this accommodation, please reach out to the Multilingual Learner Program Specialist (MLPS) in your building to discuss the student's needs.