Students who already receive accommodations in school through a formal plan will no longer, in most cases, have to jump through additional hoops to have those accommodation apply when they take the SAT or any other College Board test. The College Board decision, in particular, is an incredible development that will have ramifications for tens of thousands of students with disabilities. On December 1 st, the College Board announced it would match all of those accommodations and go much further: beginning January 1, 2017, the College Board will automatically approve accommodations for the vast majority of students who receive school-based testing accommodations through a formal school-based plan (IEP or 504 Plan for public school students and comparable plans for private school students). The ACT responded on November 14 th, announcing that it would open up new testing supports–including extended time, language supports and testing in a separate room–for English Learners. In September, the federal government put the testing giants on notice that they were obliged to remove burdensome procedures and other obstacles to securing testing accommodations.

have announced highly significant changes to their accommodations policies. In recent weeks both the College Board and ACT, Inc. Testing accommodations may never be the same. Admissions Testing Policy Updates in response to COVID-19.

Act accommodations