The Impact of Academic Accommodations on Final Grades in a Postsecondary Setting

The purpose of this study was to determine whether postsecondary students with learning disabilities (LD) and/or Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) experienced a differential increase in end-of-term grades when they used academic accommodations required by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), with verbal Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores serving as a baseline predictor. There is little empirical evidence to confirm or refute the effectiveness of accommodations for postsecondary students with LD and/or ADD, highlighting the need for more statistical and comparative studies to clarify if these students benefit from specific ADA-related academic accommodations. In this study, students with ADD and LD plus ADD experienced a significant boost in grades after using accommodations, though there were mixed results for students with LD.