Colleagues,
The Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act (ADAAA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 require the University to provide testing accommodations to all students with disabilities. Since 2013, the Disability Resource Center (DRC) has experienced a 120% increase in the number of students served. Currently, more than 2,100 current students have received accommodations through the DRC and 72% of those (nearly 1600 students) had access to testing accommodations.
The current Testing Center space (managed by Student Health and Counseling - SHAC), staffing, and structure provided for proctoring exams of students with disabilities have grown inadequate to meet our increasing needs, and it is becoming more difficult to ensure that students’ testing accommodations are provided. At the end of fall term 2019, a decision was made to transition oversight of the Testing Center to another department, and a workgroup was formed thereafter to draft a plan for implementation.
The Implementation Plan
The workgroup identified a stratified proctoring model that divides students into two groups based on the testing accommodations for which they are found to be eligible in their initial appointment with the DRC. A limited number of students who have more extensive accommodations are then directed to the Testing Center for the majority of their proctoring needs. All other students receiving testing accommodations are directed to their faculty to identify appropriate options that would work best for the students. The complete plan for providing accommodated testing is outlined on the Learning Center’s Testing Center webpage. This model will provide faculty with more options for test proctoring and will help to ensure that all students who wish to receive their testing accommodations have the ability to do so.
The Learning Center’s Key Role
Following the presentation of the implementation plan, the Learning Center was identified as the unit best positioned to take on the oversight of the Testing Center’s physical space and other options for providing testing accommodations. Under the direction of Interim Director Dr. Shoshana Zeisman-Pereyo, the Learning Center will oversee accommodated test proctoring starting in summer term 2020. I am grateful to Dr. Zeisman-Pereyo for agreeing to provide continued leadership for the Learning Center and these expanded activities.
COVID-19, Universal Design for Learning, and Assessment Methods
The dramatic shift to remote education due to the effort to curtail the spread of COVID-19 has compelled our university faculty to design assessment more inclusively, to move exams into D2L, and to provide students with alternative assessment methods (like presentations, papers, and more) as appropriate. This type of curriculum design is called Universal Design for Learning (UDL), and it provides the opportunity to meet the needs of more of our students (with and without disabilities alike). I hope that faculty will continue to consider ways in which UDL can be implemented in all courses to address Persistence, Academic Success, and Student Experience—three of the four pillars or focus areas within the PSU Student’s First effort. For more information on Universal Design for Learning here at Portland State, please visit the Office of Academic Innovation (OAI) website.
A Note About Make-Up Exams
The Learning Center has also been asked to work on a plan to support faculty and students who need options for taking proctored make-up exams. We will provide more information on make-up exams once that has been developed.
If you have questions or need more information, please contact Shoshana Zeisman-Pereyo, Interim Director of the Learning Center, at zeisman@pdx.edu.
Sincerely,
Susan Jeffords, Ph.D.
Provost and Vice President for Student Affairs
