The ACT announced today that it will be streamlining accessibility for students seeking accommodations for testing. See below for content of the full press release from ACT:

ACT Streamlines Accommodations Eligibility Requirements for Students with IEPs, 504 Plans Policy Change for 2021-22 School Year Expedites Process to Save Educators, Families, Students Time

IOWA CITY, Iowa—ACT, the nonprofit developer of the ACT test, today announced plans to increase accessibility to the ACT test for students with disabilities by streamlining accommodations eligibility requirements. ACT will approve allowable accommodations already included in students’ Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) or 504 plans.

Beginning with the 2021-22 testing year, students who already receive accommodations at their school under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act will automatically be eligible to receive the allowable testing accommodations when they register for the ACT with accommodations.

The IDEA and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act contain rigorous requirements that public schools must follow in determining who is an eligible student with a disability and what accommodations eligible students need to access their education. This includes what accommodations are needed to access classroom and standardized tests, like the ACT test.

“Students with disabilities already face many barriers in their lives, and we don’t want the accommodations process for taking the ACT to be one of them,” said ACT CEO Janet Godwin. “This policy change simplifies and expedites the process for requesting accommodations, so that students can focus on learning all that they can in school and showing what they know on test day.”

In conjunction with the policy change, ACT is updating its system for requesting accommodations to require less information and documentation to support requests submitted on behalf of students with a current IEP or 504 plan.

“By aligning to a standard that is already applied in schools where the majority of our students with accommodations are learning, we simplify and expedite the process for students, families, and educators,” said ACT Senior Director of Accessibility Katie Featherston.

While this change benefits the majority of students who test with accommodations, ACT will continue to offer accommodations to test-takers who do not have a current IEP or 504 plan. The organization will continue to use the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) standard to determine whether there is a “physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a major life activity” and whether the requested accommodations are reasonable for the ACT test.

More information about the policy change and process for requesting accommodations can be found here: www.act.org/the-act/accomms.

------------