Academic Policy  1520.20 

Reasonable Accommodation for Exam Administration

Faculty members should be familiar with exam accommodation recommendations as listed on a student’s official Accommodation Letter from the Center for Educational Access (CEA). Faculty members are required to provide exam accommodations only to students for whom they have received an accommodation letter. If the requested exam accommodation is unclear, faculty members should contact the CEA for clarification on how to facilitate the needed accommodation.

Faculty members should strive to accommodate students who require extra time on exams and/or a distraction-reduced testing environment in a space within the department or building in which the other students are taking the exam, so as to give the students with disabilities access to the faculty member for questions. If a faculty member chooses to utilize personal office or laboratory space, it is important to make sure distractions are minimized, such as unplugging the phone, turning computers off, and placing a sign on the door indicating an exam is taking place.

If space is not available within the department or building, or if the students with disabilities require alternative exam formats (e.g., Braille), a reader, a scribe, enlarged print, assistive computer technology, or other appropriate and reasonable accommodations (specified by the CEA on the student’s official Accommodation Letter), the Office of Testing Services, a unit of the Graduate School & International Education, will provide proctoring services for these students. Faculty members who choose to use the Office of Testing Services to accommodate their students’ exam needs are responsible for delivering their exams at least 48 hours prior to the exam time using the procedure specified by the Office of Testing Services. The Testing Services staff is responsible for maintaining the security of the exams and testing facilities according to guidelines set forth by the CEA, the faculty member, and the professional standards and guidelines set by the National College Testing Association.  Such guidelines from the faculty member may include setting the deadline by which the student must complete the exam, taking into consideration scheduling conflicts of the student and any CEA related accommodations for scheduling, and permission to use auxiliary materials during the exam (e.g., notes, dictionary, formula sheet, calculator). Faculty members shall provide Testing Services staff a cell phone number, or equivalent means of contact, in case the student has content-related questions during the exam, along with proctoring instructions. Specific information on the Testing Services  processes and what information is required to proctor an exam  can be found on the  Testing Services website (http://test.uark.edu/index.php) or by contacting Testing Services staff at (479) 575-3948 or testing@uark.edu.   Questions about accommodations, rather than Testing Services processes and exam administration, should be directed to CEA.  website: http://cea.uark.edu or by contacting CEA staff at (479) 575-3104 or ada@uark.edu.