What Are Accommodations?

Accommodations are changes to how a student accesses instruction or demonstrates learning — without changing what is being taught or the expected standard. Extra time, visual supports, preferential seating, and text-to-speech are all accommodations.

In plain language

Accommodations remove barriers, not expectations. The student still learns the same content and is held to the same standard — they just get there by a different route. The contrast is modifications, which change the content or standard itself.

Classroom example

During a science test, one student gets the same test as everyone else, but reads it through a screen reader and answers in a quiet room with extended time. The knowledge tested is identical; the access route is different.

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