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Documentation

What disability documentation is needed to support the requested testing accommodations?

The following Guidelines for Documentation (also found on page 1 of the Instructions for Completing the 2008-2009 Student Eligibility Form (see Eligibility)) list the information the College Board considers fundamental in determining eligibility for testing accommodations, and what accommodations appropriately meet your individual needs on our tests.

When documentation that is part of your school-generated plan/program (e.g., IEP; 504; formal educational plan) aligns with the College Board's Guidelines, and your school verifies this, the College Board accepts what your school verifies.

Often, plans/programs developed at schools to meet local needs do not align with the College Board Guidelines. If this is the case, you have 2 options: to work with your school officials to ensure that your disability documentation includes all the information identified in the Guidelines, or to submit your disability documentation with the Student Eligibility Form and have the College Board review it to determine the appropriate accommodations.

There are 7 categories of information that are part of the Guidelines (the Instructions include broader discussion of the categories. They are:

  1. state the specific disability, as diagnosed;
  2. be current (in most cases, the evaluation and diagnostic testing should have taken place within 5 years of the request for accommodations);
  3. provide relevant educational, developmental, and medical history;
  4. describe the comprehensive testing and techniques used to arrive at the diagnosis (including test results with subtest scores [standard or scaled scores] for all tests) — see the Diagnosis and Functional Limitations for a listing of frequently used tests and what they measure;
  5. describe the functional limitations (i.e., the limitations to learning impacted due to the diagnosed disability);
  6. describe the specific accommodations being requested on College Board tests;
  7. establish the professional credentials of the evaluator (e.g., licensure; certification; area of specialization).