Examining accommodation effects for equity by overcoming a methodological challenge of sparse data.

BACKGROUND As accommodation itself is an equity issue in varied contexts in and beyond education (e.g., the provision of assistive technology, extended time, or read-aloud), it is critical to examine the equitability of accommodation policies and practices by examining their effects on student performance. AIMS This study sought to assess the effectiveness of thirty-one bundled accommodations for students with learning disabilities, emotional or behavioral disorders, or multiple exceptionalities writing a provincial literacy test in Ontario, Canada. METHODS AND PROCEDURES We employed quantitative methods of log-linear analysis and odds ratio to examine the data. To analyze sparse data, we compared three different adjustment methods to meet this methodological challenge. OUTCOMES AND RESULTS Our findings suggest that the problems with sparse data can be overcome by an adjustment method. We also found that the likelihood of achieving the provincial standards may differ among students with special needs depending on whether they did or did not receive certain combinations of accommodations for the literacy test. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS We recommend that education stakeholders review the accommodations that produced significant differential effects to address the concerns regarding whether the test results were interpreted validly and fairly for students with special needs.