Chronology Current Month Current Thread Current Date
[Year List] [Month List (current year)] [Date Index] [Thread Index] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Date Prev] [Date Next]

Re: Use of exams.



Rick,

ONLY those students who are legally identified as having a documented
disability are entitled to coverage under ADA. Documentation of the
disability must come from appropriate professionals (doctors, psychologists
and medical specialists) who examine the students in question and apply
standard, well-documented and understood tests and criteria. IF documented
students choose to disclose their disability to you as an instructor then
2 laws kick in:

PL 93-616 (The Rehabilitation act) and
PL 101-336 (Americans with Disabilities Act or ADA)

and teachers must provide "equal opportunity for all qualified individuals to
participate" which usually means a univ specialist is consulted and says
that some adaptive change should take place in the course. This usually
means extra exam time or a distraction-free exam environment for Learning
Disabled people. You must also provide privacy for their disabilities if
they choose to have you keep this private.

I know lots of faculty and other students who are upset and angry with these
laws, but I think of them as the equivalent of wheelchair ramps -- minimal
adaptation to allow equal opportunity to my class. Whether you agree or
disagree with the law is beside the point when it comes to offering these
opportunities. I personally think lots of US federal laws are stupid and
regressive (not this one!) but there are lawyers out there who would be
delighted to make their next BMW payment out of my hide so I follow them,
stupid or not. I can and do largely eliminate the time element as a factor
in my exams to make my students and faculty peers feel better, and to
reduce time-related test anxiety. So it's not a big deal (to me).

At University, the cost of identifying a disability falls upon the disabled,
not the ADA-covered institution. If a student claims a disability without
documentation, the univ. can refer them to the appropriate specialist and
deny ADA recognition for that student until they produce the papers. I
don't know about grade schools coverage or testing responsibility as I have
not worked in those environments in the US and all my documents deal with
Univ policies interpreting ADA. Maybe public schools are deemed responsible
for and are avoiding paying for testing by omitting proper diagnosis and
identification of disabled students? Or maybe the institution policy is
simply to permit any applicant the extra time, despite the restrictions on
coverage specified by the ADA? (These last two questions are uninformed
speculation.)

Dan M

No way that 1/3 or a class is legally disabled!

----------
From: Daniel L. MacIsaac <Dan.MacIsaac@nau.edu>
No, I see this as a legal requirement for students identified as learning
disabled under the ADA. Agree or disagree, it happens to the be the law
in the USA. If this is pandering, you are legally required to pander.
Some places offer the opportunity to any student, but legally you MUST
offer this arrangement to identified LD students.