Arguing the issue of fairness and the additional advantage for test takers with visual impairments, some professionals have expressed negative attitudes toward test accommodation. However, researchers have found that the validity of test accommodations increases when the test scores of students who need a particular accommodation increases, while…

Eighteen middle and high school students with visual impairments participated in a weeklong field-based geology summer camp. This paper reports the curriculum, strategies, and what the students learned about Earth science by climbing in and out of caves, collecting fossils, exploring a bog, and interacting with experts in the field. Students were…

Introduction: This study investigated differential item functioning (DIF) of test items on Pennsylvania's Alternate System of Assessment (PASA) for students with visual impairments and severe cognitive disabilities and what the reasons for the differences may be. Methods: The Wilcoxon signed ranks test was used to analyze differences in the scores…

Diagram describing texts are integral part of science and engineering subjects including geometry, physics, engineering drawing, etc. In order to understand such text, one, at first, tries to draw or perceive the underlying diagram. For perception of the blind students such diagrams need to be drawn in some non-visual accessible form like tactile…

This study examined the effects of an extended learning program on mathematics achievement and self-determination skills for students with visual impairments in grades four through eight attending a specialized school in a southern state. The research population consisted of the total enrollment of students in grades four through eight attending…

This qualitative case study was conducted to examine the perceived challenges faced by students with visual impairments and the methods used by general education teachers at one middle school to create an academic and socially inclusive classroom environment. Public Law 94-142, which required students with disabilities to receive a free and public…

English and language arts teachers of braille-reading students in general education classes rated these students' academic engagement and the academic achievement of low- and average-achieving sighted students in the same classrooms. The braille readers were found to be statistically similar to the low-achieving students with regard to effort,…

Introduction: This study investigated the use of accommodations and the performance of students with visual impairments and severe cognitive disabilities on the Pennsylvania Alternate System of Assessment (PASA)yCoan alternate performance-based assessment. Methods: Differences in test scores on the most basic level (level A) of the PASA of 286…

The goal of the User-Centered Digital Library Project, conducted by the National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM) at WGBH, was to adapt the Teachers' Domain online digital library to enable teachers and students with disabilities to more readily use the resources in science classrooms. NCAM added accessibility features such as captions and audio…

Cooperative learning is an instructional method designed to teach students to work together in small, structured, heterogeneous teams to achieve a common goal. The Performer and Coach Earn Rewards (PACER) system is a new way to incorporate cooperative learning in the gymnasium. It consists of six components that help teachers to introduce new…

This report summarizes the design and development of an adaptive e-learning prototype for middle school mathematics for use with both sighted and visually disabled students. Adaptation refers to the system's ability to adjust itself to suit particular characteristics of the learner. The main parts of the report describe the system's theoretical…