About Accessible Classroom Assessments
When planning your assessments, consider the following information:
Your Role
You will not be expected to create alternate assessments for your braille-reading student. They will be taking part in the same assessments as the rest of the students in your class, although these assessments will be transcribed and models graphs and diagrams may be created in tactile format.
Accessibility of tests
When planning informal teacher-made classroom assessments, keep in mind that placing the assessment document in a braille format may take some time. The teacher of students with visual impairments will help you schedule an appropriate amount of time for your assessment to be transcribed, so that your braille-reading student can take the test at the same time as the rest of the students in your class.
Time
Depending on the topic, the length and the complexity of the assessment some braille reading student may require additional time to successfully complete the assessment. For instance, if the assessment was on the anatomy of the human body, and the student was required to identify parts of the body using a tactile model, it may take your student additional time to access the model and complete the questionsYour student and his or her teacher of the visually impaired will help determine an appropriate amount of time for each classroom assessment.
Environment
Your braille-reading student will likely complete his or her assessment in the general education classroom. However, if the student needs additional time, alternative tactile format of graphs, maps or diagrams or use of technology that may be disruptive in the class, it may be advisable to have an alternate work space of the student during the assessment times.