Accommodations for students with Special Education Needs or Special Circumstances

Contents

Permitted accommodations for the OSSLT

Students with special education needs or special considerations outlined in this user guide are eligible for accommodations. These accommodations should be listed in their Individual Education Plan (IEP) where applicable and used for regular classroom activities, including all forms of assessment. School administrators must indicate applicable special considerations in the Accommodations tab in the e-assessment system. Refer to Ontario Schools, Kindergarten to Grade 12: Policy and Program Requirements, 2024 for guidelines about accommodations and special circumstances.

Permitted Accommodations for the OSSLT
Permitted for ALL students	Available for students with IEPs or special considerations
	Presentation format	Responding format
Prompts to return attention back to the task Quiet setting Use of headphones Preferential seating Supervised breaks Alternative setting Additional time Flexible scheduling by the school within a 6- week assessment window Use of built-in text to speech in the E-assessment system Built-in accessibility tools and features in the e-assessment system (zoom, text to speech, high contrast, etc.)	Alternative Version formats (single-selection, open response type questions only)*: Braille e-Braille Printable PDF large-print Printable PDF regular-print Online Interpreter/sign language Audio (MP3 file may be used with Braille or PDF formats) Assistive Technology such as Google Read and Write, Kurzweil, NVDA, VoiceOver, Read Aloud, JAWS, Natural Reader and others	Assistive technology (voice to text) Verbatim scribing (all student responses must be recorded in the e-assessment system)

* Assessment content for all formats of the Alternative Version is identical.

Role of the school administrator

The school administrator is responsible for

adhering to the Professional Responsibilities
making decisions about student participation (i.e., participating, deferred, or exempted). Refer to Ontario Schools, Kindergarten to Grade 12: Policy and Program Requirements, 2024
documenting the relevant information in the e-assessment platform according to the instructions in this user guide
sending an information letter to parents or guardians outlining approved accommodations (Sample Letter)

Decisions about accommodations must be made

based on the student’s IEP or special considerations
in accordance with EQAO’s User Guides for the administration of the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT).
consistent with regular classroom practice, including assessments
prior to the test
for each student individually
in consultation with the student and parents or the guardian or the mature student, and with the appropriate teaching staff

Completing the Accommodations section

Step 1 – Navigate to the Accommodations tab

Log in to your account.
Select a student.
In the Student Record window, select the Accommodations tab.

Step 2 – Review all fields and select or revise the accommodations as needed

1. Individual Education Plan (IEP) Status:

Select This student has an IEP (if applicable).

2. Identification, Placement and Review Committee (IPRC) Exceptionality:

The student has special education needs and has been identified by an IPRC as having the following exceptionality (check one only):

Behavioural exceptionality
Autism
Deaf and hard of hearing
Language impairment
Speech impairment
Learning disability
Giftedness
Mild intellectual disability
Developmental disability
Physical disability
Blind and low vision
Multiple exceptionalities
No (IPRC)

3. Special Considerations

Refer to

Ontario Schools, Kindergarten to Grade 12: Policy and Program Requirements, 2024 for guidelines about accommodations and special circumstances. Permitted accommodations can be provided to students who are unable to participate in the assessment without these accommodations, due to these special considerations:

Additional Accommodations: This student’s accommodations are not described in their IEP, but they have been approved by the appropriate supervisory officer.
Temporary or Unique Circumstance: This student has no IEP and has received the principal’s permission for accommodations due to temporary or unique circumstances.
New to School: This student recently arrived from another school and has no IEP but has received the appropriate supervisory officer’s permission for accommodations.

4. Permitted Accommodations

Select the needed accommodation(s):

Braille format: If Braille is required, school administrators must proceed to the Alternative Version Request tab to provide specific ordering information:
- Contracted
- Uncontracted
- No

Other Formats of the Alternative Version: The school administrator must request the appropriate format(s) using the Alternative Version Request tab
Extended periodic supervised breaks
Sign language or an oral interpreter
Verbatim scribing of responses (refer to the Guidelines for Scribes section)
Other accommodations not listed in the user guide: send an e-mail to info@eqao.com detailing your request for written approval from EQAO

5. Assistive Technology

All students writing the OSSLT have access to built-in accessibility tools such as a text-to-speech reader and a text zoom tool.

Additional assistive technology software is available to students with special education needs or a special circumstance.

Schools are encouraged to use the chosen assistive technology during the online practice test to ensure the technology functions appropriately for the student in advance of the test.

The following is a list of additional assistive technology that is supported by the e-assessment platform and must be selected in the e-assessment system by the school administrator:

the Read&Write for Google Chrome extension
Other Assistive Technology:
- Kurzweil: The downloadable version
- Kurzweil: The extensions for Firefox and Chrome
- NVDA
- VoiceOver
- Read Aloud
- Job Action with Speech (JAWS)
- ChromeVox
- Natural Reader
- Others (please specify)

If a student requires one or more of these assistive technologies, or an assistive technology that is not listed here, please contact your school board IT representative. Refer to Configuring devices for public schools(or Configuring devices for private schools) for details.

NOTE
Variations in the pronunciation or inflection of words and phrases may occur due to the variety of software, speech engines and computer systems. Revisions may be made by the school to rectify such variations, providing that no change is made to any content.

Guidelines for scribes

Students are permitted to work with a scribe if they have this accommodation listed in their IEP or have an approved special consideration.

Scribes must be adults and must not be relatives of the students they are assisting.

School administrators are responsible for reviewing the guidelines with individuals who will be acting as scribes.

Scribes must follow the guidelines below:

work only with students who have been identified as receiving a scribing accommodation
record the student’s responses by transcribing exactly what the student dictates into the e-assessment platform
transcribe the student’s open responses if they used the printable PDF and cannot input their own responses
input answers to the selected-response questions into the e-assessment platform as directed by the student
assume each sentence begins with a capital and ends with a period
read the dictation back to the student if requested
show the student the transcription after the student has finished responding to a question and ask if any corrections are necessary
make corrections according to the student’s directions

NOTE
The scribe can enter the student’s dictation after an active session, if needed. The teacher will use the unsubmission request (option 2) and log in to the student account for the transcription.

Scribes must not:

review the test prior to administration
clarify, explain or translate any part of the test
edit or alter the student’s dictation in any way, unless directed by the student
correct the student’s responses, unless directed by the student
prompt in order to draw the student’s attention to a specific part of the test
initiate the use of test-taking strategies
show any reaction to the student’s responses
engage in incidental conversation with the student or others

Transcribing student responses into the E-Assessment platform

All student responses must be entered directly into the e-assessment platform, regardless of which format is used, by either the student, the teacher or by the scribe.

If a scribe is unable to enter the student’s dictation directly into the e-assessment platform during the active assessment session, answers must be entered into the online format after the student has completed the assessment session. The student’s teacher can login to the platform using the student’s login information in order to transcribe exactly what the student has identified as their response.

IMPORTANT
All printed and electronic copies of the assessment must be kept secure by the school administrator and must be accounted for at all times. For test security, printed or paper copies of student responses must be kept in a secure location by the school administrator and shredded/deleted after the Individual Student Report is made available to the school.

After the Individual Student Reports are made available to the school administrator, all the printed and electronic copies of the assessment must be shredded and/or deleted.

Using Read&Write for Google Chrome

The OSSLT includes various question formats (drag and drop, drop-down menu, checklist, selected response). As these questions are more interactive than those in a standard document or on a webpage, students will need to use the Read&Write Hover Speech tool to access them. Features of Read&Write that are not noted as an assessment accommodation on the student’s IEP should be turned off.

Students requiring this accommodation should practice its use with the practice test well before the administration date in order to troubleshoot any potential technical issues.

TIP
The e-assessment platform has a built-in text-to-speech tool that is designed to work with the assessment platform.

Below are some videos that demonstrate how to use this assistive technology with the e-assessment platform: