Predetermined accommodations with a standardized testing protocol: Examining two accommodation supports for developing fraction thinking in students with mathematical difficulties

This study examined the effects of two pre-determined accommodations that were provided in a standardized testing. The two accommodations were meant to help students with difficulties in mathematics (SDMs) engage in unit thinking, reasoning, and coordination and consequently improve their ability to process fraction tasks. 23 middle school SDMs took the following tests and were asked to explain their solutions: a baseline fraction test without any accommodation; an annotated test with bolded information and additional simplified explanations; and a warming- up test that involved whole-number multiplicative reasoning tasks followed by the baseline test. Results show that while SDMs were able to construct and coordinate fraction units to solve fraction problems when appropriate accommodations were provided, standardized assessment with a predetermined “one-size-fits -all” accommodation could not meet the specific needs of all students with mathematics learning difficulties.