Attendance Flexibility and Assignment Due Date Extension Accommodations
About
Students are expected to follow established classroom attendance and deadline policies. However, some disabilities are episodic in nature, resulting in students occasionally missing class or an assignment deadline. Attendance flexibility in a limited amount is intended to address the impact of acute exacerbations of a student’s disability on attendance and assignment due dates.
Flexible due dates are typically not approved for students who have concerns about difficulty with time management or course loads. Instead, students in these situations are often encouraged to consider academic support through the Center for Academic Excellence or to consider a reduced course load accommodation if necessary.
Process
The Disability Resource Center recognizes the importance of attending class and completing assignments on time. These accommodations are not meant to allow students to miss as many classes as they want or to never have to submit work by the established deadline.
The appropriate level of flexibility granted to students is highly dependent on the design of the course. The Disability Resource Center has created a rubric of course types and frequency of class sessions to identify a proposed number of disability related absences to assist in determining an appropriate number of allowable absences. Instructors should review the rubric and indicate to the DRC staff if they accept the proposed number of absences for the class or if they wish to recommend a different number of absences. Instructors should assess the impact of attendance and deadlines on the class and determine what accommodations can be made.
When is Attendance Essential?
The following questions have been provided by the Office of Civil Rights to determine the appropriateness of the accommodation.
Consider the following:
- Do students interact with each other and with the instructor?
- Do student contributions in class constitute a significant component of the learning process?
- Does the fundamental nature of the course rely on student participation as an essential method for learning?
- To what degree does a student’s failure to attend constitute a significant loss to the educational experience of other students in the class?
- What do the course description and syllabus say?
- What method is used to calculate the final grade?
- What are the classroom practices and policies regarding attendance?
When Are Assignment Due Dates Essential?
Consider the following:
- To what degree does a student’s failure to submit work timely constitute a significant loss to the educational experience of other students in the class?
- Does the fundamental nature of the course rely on meeting deadlines as an essential component for learning?
- What do the course description and syllabus say?
- What method is used to calculate the final grade?
- What are the classroom practices and policies regarding deadlines?
Completing the Process
Clear communication is critical in ensuring all parties understand the parameters of the accommodation. To that end, the Disability Resource Center sends an email to instructors to request a response to the recommended number of absences to be permitted or the allowance of due date extensions on assignments. Instructors can email their approval of the recommended number of absences based on the rubric provided or the specific number identified by the DRC staff, or they can indicate an alternative plan based on consideration of the questions provided from the Office of Civil Rights.
This information is needed in a timely manner from instructors (within 5 days of the email from the DRC staff) in order to have an accommodation plan arranged. If no response from an instructor is provided within five days, the DRC staff will determine the accommodation plan to put into place.
The DRC staff will communicate the approved accommodation with students and instructors will see the approved plan in the accommodations that are submitted through the notification of accommodations in Banner.
Disability Center staff are available to support faculty and students regarding these accommodations; please reach out at any point in the process with any concerns or questions.
Memory Aids on Exams or Quizzes
What is a Memory Aid/Cue Sheet?
A memory aid (also sometimes referred to as a cue sheet) is a testing accommodation used to support students who have documented challenges with memory. It is a tool used to trigger information that a student has studied but may have difficulty recalling due to cognitive processing deficits associated with memory and recall. The memory aid allows the student to demonstrate knowledge of course material by helping prompt the student’s memory, not by providing the answer.
A memory aid gives students an equal opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge of course material on a test/exam without taxing an already compromised memory. This accommodation is not intended to reduce academic requirements or alter the standards by which academic performance is assessed.
A proper memory aid will not be useful to the student unless the student knows and understands how to use the information it refers to. If the student doesn’t understand the course material, a proper memory aid will not help.
A memory aid provides support to students with documented deficits in rote memory, sequencing memory, working memory, and /or long-term memory. It helps them recall information that would otherwise be inaccessible to them in a testing situation. A student who requires a memory aid will provide the Disability Resource Center with documentation supporting the need for this particular aid.
Disabilities that may affect memory include (but are not limited to):
- Acquired Brain Injury
- Psychiatric disability
- Specific learning disability
- Medical Conditions
How is an accommodation for a memory aid or cue sheet determined and approved?
A student who requires a cue sheet must present documentation, from a qualified professional, which supports the need for this aid to the DRC. A Disability staff member will review the documentation and discuss the request for a memory aid in depth with the student. Students are responsible for learning course material, for discerning which material may require cues or triggers, for developing the cues that will appear on the aid, and for securing the instructor’s approval.
What is allowed on a memory aid or cue sheet?
Generally, DRC will only approve a handwritten or typed 3" by 5" index card, front and back, or one handwritten or typed letter-size page (8 ½ x 11”), front page only. Typically, the memory aid should be written or typed in a standard font size (i.e. 12-point font). The type of memory aid will be indicated on the student's accommodation letter.
The content on the memory aid must not fundamentally alter essential expectations for information recall or the writing of answers. A good example of when a memory aid may fundamentally alter these types of expectations is when a student includes a formula on a memory aid for an Engineering exam where it is essential that the student be able to identify a specific formula to use to complete a calculation. At the discretion of the instructor, a memory aid may or may not include the use of:
- Acronyms
- short phrases
- pictures
- schematic diagrams
- formulas
- names
- definitions
- tables
- sample questions
- key terms/words charts
A cue sheet accommodation is not intended to reduce academic requirements or alter the standards by which academic performance is assessed.
What a memory aid or cue sheet is not
A cue sheet is not meant to record all the facts, concepts or processes being tested. This means that a memory aid should NOT:
- Exceed one page (single-sided)
- Include specific examples of how formulas are used, unless such an inclusion would not fundamentally alter essential expectations on the exam
- Include “answer sheets” or complete terms and definitions
- Include full course notes or all information from the course which is being evaluated
- Include open textbooks
- Serve as a substitute for studying
Instructor Considerations
The contents of a memory aid or cue sheet are at the instructor’s discretion and should not be contrary to the essential requirements of the course. The instructor is generally best positioned to determine whether a memory aid compromises the integrity of the course. It should not contain a synopsis of course material, but rather mnemonics (a device such as a pattern of letters, ideas, or associations that assist in recalling information) and formulas that would enable the student to solve the problem. If the purpose of a test is to determine whether the student knows specific definitions, having those words or definitions on a memory aid would make it an answer sheet and therefore, not acceptable. If the definitions were written but not connected to the terms to be defined in any way, this may be allowable, since it will trigger the student’s memory of the correct term.
If remembering the information on the memory aid is deemed to be an essential learning objective or outcome of the course, it should not be allowed. For example, if the learning objective or outcome of the course is to know the formula, it should not be allowed on the memory aid; however, if the learning objective or outcome of the course is to demonstrate the ability to apply the formula, then it could be allowed on the memory aid. Memory aids must be reviewed and approved by the instructor since the instructor decides the learning objectives or essential requirements of the course. Instructors can choose to remove memory triggers that are deemed to be essential learning objectives for the course. Note: It is understood that some courses do not lend themselves to the use of memory aids.
Procedures
- Once a student has been approved for a memory aid by DRC, the accommodation will be included on the student’s accommodations. Please review the student’s semester accommodations submitted by the student through Banner. Contact the DRC if you have concerns regarding the use of the memory aid and the essential requirements of the course.
- For each exam requiring a memory aid, the student can schedule to take their exam at the DRC Testing Center.
- For each exam, the student prepares a memory aid that follows the parameters listed above. Please note: A student with a visual impairment may need a larger memory aid with the same number of characters in a larger font.
- The student provides the memory aid for editing and final approval, at least 5 business days prior to the test/exam, to the instructor. This means that the student will contact the instructor well in advance of the exam to confirm the due date for the memory aid.
- If additional content is being covered in subsequent classes past the 5 business day recommendation, faculty should allow the student to submit a partially completed memory aid with the ability to add any additional content up until 48 hours prior to the exam.
- At least two business days prior to the test/exam, the instructor reviews the student’s cue sheet and chooses one of the following options:
- Approve the memory aid “as is”
- Remove (if handwritten: delete, scratch out, or black out with a marker; if in a Word document: delete) information that the instructor has deemed inappropriate. If an item on the memory aid provides a complete answer, rather than a trigger for an answer, the item must be removed.
- Disallow the memory aid entirely because the memory triggers on the memory aid are deemed to be essential criteria or learning objectives for the course.
- The instructor submits the approved memory aid along with the student’s test directly to the DRC Testing Center prior to the date of the test/exam. If the student is not taking the test at the DRC, the instructor should provide the student with the approved memory aid in advance of the test.
- Only the mutually agreed upon memory aid will be allowed in the test/exam at the DRC Testing Center. Students cannot bring other course materials into the testing room unless previously approved by the instructor.
- If the student arrives at the DRC Testing Center to test with a memory aid not approved by the instructor, the memory aid will not be allowed. Proctoring staff will not contact the instructor on behalf of the student to request approval for a memory aid. This is the responsibility of the student.
- Once the student completes the exam at the DRC Testing Center, the test and the memory aid will be returned to the instructor per the instructor’s requested method of return.