Accommodation Research to Guide Practice: Comments on What We Know and What We Need to Know

Abstract

This article discusses the research reported in this special issue with respect to implications for policy, practice, and future research. The discussion focuses on the functions of research in reporting, enlightenment and conceptualization, short-run empiricism, and testing for replication. The article concludes by calling for systematic and sustained research on assessment accommodations. This special issue presents an interesting variety of topics and methodologies that represent the larger body of research on assess, ment accommodations. (2003). In discussing the research in this issue, this article will respond to some issues that pertain generally to accommodations research and its implications for policy, practice, and further research. Functions of ResearchSchiller and Malouf (2000) draw from several sources to suggest the following ways that research can contribute to policy and practice : reporting, enlightenment and conceptualization, short-run empiricism, and testing for replication in practice.Reporang. Lindblom and Cohen (1979) describe &dquo;reporting&dquo; as research that provides descriptive information on the prevalence and severity of a problem, where it tends to occur, and how it tends to manifest itself.