Test Taking Accommodations

Many students need support not only in their daily reading and writing activities but also while test taking to reach and demonstrate their full potential. Kurzweil 3000 includes unique test taking capabilities widely used by teachers and students in regular instruction and as a testing accommodation. Using Kurzweil 3000, students can independently complete worksheets, classroom tests and standardized tests with greater confidence and fewer mistakes. Students can easily answer fill-in-the-blanks, multiple-choice, true/false, short answer, essay and other test question formats.

Kurzweil 3000 provides Accommodations in Presentation affecting the way directions and content are delivered to the students as well as Accommodations in Response offering different ways for students to respond to assessment questions. Thus Kurzweil 3000 enables students to access materials according to their needs and demonstrate their knowledge in multiple ways.

Kurzweil 3000 as a Test Taking Accommodation Provides:

• Text to speech support allowing independent access for students with reading disabilities
• Compatibility with IntelliKeys and other third party assistive technology tools to support those with physical disabilities
• Language translation, an integrated dictionary and thesaurus to support English Language Learners
• Multiple question and response formats including fill-in-the-blanks, multiple-choice, true/false, circling tools, highlighters, short answer, essay and recorded responses
• Features that can be enabled or disabled for tests depending on the needs of the student and the test requirements

Federal law mandates that students with disabilities participate in and make progress towards the high performance standards states establish and in the required testing they conduct, including Common Core State Standards. Both the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA) of 2004 and No Child Left Behind (NCLB) call for students with disabilities to participate in the general education curriculum and in testing programs to the maximum extent possible for each student.

IDEA 2004 mandates that all students with disabilities participate in statewide and district wide testing "with appropriate accommodations and alternate assessments where necessary and as indicated in their respective individualized education programs" (IDEA, 2004b).

Accommodations can help students overcome or minimize the barriers presented by their disabilities — which is why federal law requires their use when necessary.

You can find out more about accommodations in your state by visiting:

The National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO).

Your state education agency’s website, identified on NICHCY’s state resource sheets.

The following states and provinces have approved Kurzweil 3000 specifically as an accommodation for
state-wide testing:

All High Stakes Testing requires a special application approval to make use of Kurzweil as a test taking
accommodation. See the links below for more specifics: