Adaptations + Accommodations = Academic Success

By Maria Mahaffey

Teachers who work with heterogeneous grouping almost always have students of various abilities and learning styles.  Addressing this variety can be a challenge for teachers.  Simply accepting that differentiated instruction is necessary is only the first step.  Determining how to differentiate instruction and then actually implementing such instruction can be the pivotal point in teaching success. One of the important tools of differentiating instruction is determining whether to offer adaptations or accommodations; then deciding which to use.
 
Academic accommodations offer opportunities for the same curriculum to be taught but in a different way.  How the student learns is changed but the content remains the same.

A teacher must determine, for each student who may need an adaptation or accommodation, which is the appropriate tool.  Often students who are in need of adaptations or accommodations are already on an Individual Education Program (IEP) or 504 plan because of a diagnosed learning difficulty.  Their IEP, of which each of the student’s teachers should be made aware, will outline their adaptations or accommodations.  Sometimes these students will work with a Special Needs/Education teacher within a mainstream classroom or through pull out enrichment.  This is when the adapted curriculum is frequently used.  However, due to budget restraints, curricular design, and state standards based education, mainstream classroom teachers do have to create adapted lessons for students who have already been identified as having special needs.

It is far more difficult when the student has not been identified as having a learning disability but is still struggling with the curriculum.  Students who read below grade level or have language barriers many times find their class work challenging and thus frustrating.  When the work is at such a level of frustration that the student feels they have little to no chance for success, the student often becomes disengaged. Voila!  An at-risk/at-promise student has emerged.  Identifying these students and offering remedies early on is crucial to their success. 
 
When working with such a student, one who is struggling with the work but does not already have or does not qualify for special needs assistance, the teacher must differentiate instruction so that the student has the opportunity to succeed.  One of the first steps is to distinguish as to whether the student needs accommodations or adaptations.  Accommodations appear in many forms such as:

• changing the input offered the student (reading text aloud, large print, picture directions, flashcards, etc.);
• changing the output expected from the student (oral presentations rather than written, graphic organizers, allow retaking of tests, etc);
• giving extended time or varying the time given; 
• adjusting the size or length of assignments;
• varying the difficulty (tiered assignments, chunking assignments, using manipulatives or a calculator, etc.); 
• giving different types and amount of support by teachers.

All of these accommodations can be offered to students without identified learning disabilities as long as they fit with department and district protocol.  Offering students alternative methods to demonstrate their mastery increases their confidence as they realize they are capable of accomplishing success, even if it is not through the most traditional of means.
 
Determining the appropriateness of adaptations can be far more difficult.  When changing the curriculum, teachers generally tread lightly.  Curriculum is developed based on conducted needs analysis and state standards.  Creating modifications to the curriculum runs the risk of not abiding by state standards or district policy.  However, there are real and definite needs for some students to have adapted curriculum even if they are not identified as special needs/education students.  In determining how to adapt or modify curriculum, being aware of power standards is crucial.  When designing curriculum, the district cannot always include every state standard in every domain.  Instead, curriculum designers identify power standards.  Those are the standards they feel will best enable students to cover the content and demonstrate proficiency at the state’s expected levels of performance.  Being aware of one’s district power standards allows teachers who must modify curriculum to bear in mind the purpose of the curriculum they may be creating as an adaptation.  When aware of district power standards, teachers can design activities, lessons, and units that may be different from the original curriculum but still fulfill the purpose of the original curriculum. 

For example, a state World History standard may require students to be able to compare and contrast the outcomes of both World War I and II.  A district’s curriculum may include lessons on the Treaty of Versailles, the League of Nations, the Postdam and Yalta conferences, and the United Nations.  However, for some students lectures or readings on these events may not be appropriate for accomplishing this standard.  Instead, a teacher may choose change what students learn by focusing instead on the Dawes Plan, the Truman Doctrine, and the Marshall Plan because these historical events are better suited to a student using visual tools (maps, charts, and pictorial relationship diagrams) to depict the similarities and differences of the outcomes of both World Wars.
 
Mainstream classroom teachers may find it taxing to create differentiated instruction or use accommodating materials for one student and not another, or to create several different versions of accommodations to meet each struggling student’s needs.  Adapting curriculum can be time consuming and difficult based on district policy.  Both of these tools can also create classroom management obstacles as students may be working on parallel materials simultaneously.  When in doubt, refer to the special education department or the curriculum design team. Nonetheless, those teachers who take on this arduous task often are able to bring back students who are otherwise considered at-risk or lost and transform their learning to make them at-promise.
 
Maria Mahaffey is an Instructional Assistant for SIATech.