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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Op here. It's private school and lower grades mean academic probation or being asked to leave...[b]School will not allow alternative testing approaches (of even a separate room) other than extended time[/b]. We're at a point where moving schools is not desirable, especially when I think DC would have this issue anywhere. Tests always have been challenging but in younger grades it was easier to balance out a bad test with other work. Now with fewer graded opportunities, a bad test can tank a grade. School does not allow any retakes, make-up, or mastery work. There has to be a way that DC can figure out the issues. I've looked at time of day, classes that abut lunch, etc. but DC tells me that he simply gets "confused" when the test arrives, regardless of subject.[/quote]

TBC: the bold is illegal.  Under the ADA and Section 504, schools are obliged to make reasonable accommodations for students -- even private schools, even private catholic schools (often because they have accepted public money in some way and also because it seems to be a policy of the catholic education structure in any case).

The school must make an individual determination about whether there is a disability that substantially limits a major life activity (that is the 504 standard), and it must individually determine what accommodations are necessary and reasonable.

It is not legally permissible for any school of any type to say, "we only offer 1 accommodation".  It is also not legally permissible to make a determination of disability solely on the basis of grades, i.e. to say "student is getting good grades, so there is no disability and/or no need for accommodations".  A disability determination must include a number of different sources of info and must be individualized to the student.

As an aside, I'll say that as a tutor who has worked with many students with different kinds of "disabilities," the pattern you describe - knowing the material but failing the test - can be a function of different issues: anxiety, processing speed (can't finish all the test Qs or can't finish without rushing and making inattentive mistakes), working memory (doesn't memorize formulas or concepts or can't remember all steps of a process), ADHD (often see mistakes due to inattention, rushing, impulsivity, doing too much in their head, distraction, miscopying, or poor organization of work, failing to answer all parts of a question, and also dysgraphia is commonly co-morbid with ADHD).  [/quote]

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