Accommodations: Changes in the way the test is administered or the way in which a student with special education needs responds to its components. Accommodations do not alter the content of the test or affect validity or reliability.
Deferrals: Decisions to postpone the writing of the test until the following school year for students who are working toward an Ontario Secondary School Diploma (OSSD).
Exemptions: Available for students whose Individual Education Plan (IEP) states they are not working toward an OSSD.
Modifications: Changes to the content of the assessment. These are not permitted, because they affect the validity and reliability of the test.
Prompt: A tap on the desk or a verbal signal (e.g., a word or phrase) to draw the student’s attention back to the test. Prompts are used for students who are off task. Prompts do not include clarification, explanation or translation of any part of the test and may not be used to draw the student’s attention to a specific part of the OSSLT.
Scribe: An individual who supports the accommodations the student receives on a regular basis for all forms of test by recording student responses verbatim. Scribes must be adults and must not be relatives of the students they are assisting. Scribes should work only with students who have been identified as receiving a scribing accommodation, and they should not scribe for any other students.
Special Provisions: Extended periodic supervised breaks for English language learners. This change does not affect the validity or reliability of the test.