About Accommodations

What is an Accommodation?

Ensuring qualified students with disabilities have equal access to UWSP courses and programs is an institutional responsibility. Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 and its Amendments (2008) require post-secondary educational institutions to give individual consideration to accommodation requests. An accommodation is essentially an exception to a course policy or requirement, or a modification to a particular experience, designed to ensure access.

One of the primary roles of the DRC is to determine reasonable academic accommodations and collaborate with instructors to ensure a student with a disability has equitable access to a course. DRC staff meet with students to discuss the barriers being presented by the student’s condition and identify accommodations that minimize those barriers. DRC staff also review documentation to verify the functional limitation the student is describing. Information on qualification processes and documentation requirements can be found at ‘Accommodations‘ under the ‘Students’ sidebar.

More complex situations require collaboration and communication between instructors and DRC staff. Determination of accommodations often includes an analysis of a course’s format and learning outcomes to ensure accommodations do not “fundamentally alter” the course in a way that negates the learning objectives. This is often the case when instructors, students, and DRC are navigating situations where absence has occurred, deadlines are impacted, or modifications to course activities are being considered.

DRC staff are well-versed in a wide variety of accommodations and have an understanding of the legal and compliance contexts surrounding provision of services to students with disabilities. Combining that knowledge with the disciplinary expertise of an instructor ensures that the institution can meet its responsibilities.

Quiz, Test, & Exam Accommodations

The most frequently used accommodations are for timed assessments (quizzes, tests, midterms, exams). If they have the availability, instructors may provide test accommodations for students with disabilities in their area. However, if they are unable to do so, the DRC will arrange for a proctored exam.

  • Instructors will receive a Faculty Notification Letter (FNL), which tells faculty what accommodations the student qualifies for.  
  • If a student is eligible for any test accommodations, within the FNL is a link to a Testing Agreement. PLEASE COMPLETE THE TESTING AGREEMENT. It indicates to us if faculty want to administer exams themselves, if the exams are online or in-person, and provides us info on how to administer them (notes allowed, standard time, etc.).
    • DRC Connect will automatically apply submitted testing agreement information to more than one student so you only have to complete the agreement once for each section (i.e. Stevie Pointer’s and Sallie Pointer’s exams in PSYC 110 Section 1)
    • DRC Connect will not automatically apply the testing agreement information to students in different sections of the same course taught by the same instructor. Please complete the Testing Agreement for each section, or contact the Testing Coordinator to have the information manually copied (i.e. Stevie Pointer in HIST 101 Section 1 and Sallie Pointer in HIST 101 Section 2)
  • For proctored exams, students must submit an exam request through DRC Connect at least five business days in advance of the scheduled exam (at least 10 business days for finals). Should an instructor change the exam date, we expect them to inform the student as soon as possible, so the student can submit the changes to DRC Connect.
  • DRC Connect will generate a series of email notifications to instructors. These emails will track the status of the request; initial entry, an approval and request for the exam documents, and reminders. PLEASE BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THESE TESTING-RELATED EMAILS.
  • Uploading exam documents through DRC Connect is the preferred method for submitting exams.

On the Stevens Point campus, DRC uses a closed-circuit camera system to monitor its testing rooms. We also assign proctors (usually trained student employees) to monitor exams in non-camera rooms or deliver certain accommodations (reader, scribe, etc.). At Marshfield and Wausau, exams are proctored by staff in the Library.

If instructors have any questions regarding the test taking procedure through the DRC, please call us at 715-346-3365 and talk to the Test Coordinator. We are thankful for the partnership and assistance of faculty in this process. We also have more information about the test administration process on our YouTube channel: