Providing Accessible Tests

It is the responsibility of faculty to provide accessible tests at SUNY Cortland. That said, there are many times when instructors are unable to provide a necessary test accommodation. In these cases, Disability Resources will do so as a service to faculty through Test Accessibility Services (TAS). Please note that TAS is only available to students who have registered with Disability Resources.

These are the steps an instructor should take if a student comes to you with an accommodations letter.

1. Talk to your students about their test accommodations. Depending on the nature of your tests, the testing environment, your schedule, and the student’s accommodations, you may or may not be able to provide test accommodations. Please note that tests at TAS must begin no earlier than 8 a.m. and must finish by 4 p.m. Exams scheduled in late afternoon and evening classes outside of these times may be scheduled at TAS during regular business hours.
2. If you and the student decide the exams should be administered at TAS, it is the student’s responsibility to place a request to schedule them in the online system. 
3. If a student wants to be certain to take an exam at TAS, she must place the request at least 5 business days in advance. We accept student requests with fewer days’ notice, but we tell students that it is possible that TAS may be unavailable and that faculty may not receive the request in time. Once it is 24 hours before the exam time (or 72 hours before a Monday exam), students may not use the online scheduling system. At this point, we will sometimes place a request in the system on a student's behalf if they communicate with us that they need to do so. However, we stress to the student that the instructor may not have time to approve the request and get us the exam with such late notice.
4. Students may schedule all of your exams at the beginning of the semester or one at a time throughout the semester. If an exam date or time is later changed, the student may cancel the request in the system and make a new request.
5. Once a student makes a request, you will receive an email at your college email account notifying you to approve or deny the request in the online system. If you do not act on the request, you will receive email reminders to do so.
6. For each request, you will be asked:
   • If the dates and times meet your approval;
   • If students are allowed any extra materials, such as a calculator, books, or notes;
   • How you will deliver the exams to TAS;
   • How you would like TAS to return the exams to you.
   • If you choose, you may enter notes that may be read by TAS staff and the student. You may also choose to have an automated email sent to you to remind you to deliver the exam. If you find video tutorials helpful, this will walk you through the process of receiving and responding to requests.
7. If the student did not make the request at least 5 business days in advance, TAS will have to approve it as well. You will receive email notification only if TAS denies such a request.
8. Please remember to deliver your exams to TAS on time. Students who must wait for or reschedule an exam are not receiving equal access to your course. The delivery reminder feature in the test scheduling system can be helpful here.

Contact: tas@cortland.edu

Memorial Library, B-121A