Planning for Disability Testing Accommodations During a Pandemic
From college admissions tests to bar examinations, COVID-19 has rapidly transformed the condition, manner, and duration in which standardized testing is being administered. Testing modifications that many testing entities once viewed as impossible and/or fundamental alterations have been quickly implemented for the sake of preserving the test, but often at the expense of examinees with disabilities.
This program will provide disability civil rights practitioners, school administrators, clinicians, parents, and students with a real-time update on the state of standardized testing during our current public health crisis. Covered topics shall include: available accommodations; application requirements; case law updates; a primer on artificial intelligence and remote proctoring; and special considerations for in-person testing.
- November 10, 2020
- 2:30 PM
- 4:00 PM
- 1.5
- 1.5
- Virtual Participation
- Legal definition of disability; procedures for initial applications and reconsiderations/appeals (for various exams, including attorney licensing exams); special considerations during the pandemic (re: applications/appeals, supporting documentation, the exam itself, and enforcement of civil rights).
- Process for requesting accommodations at post-secondary and professional schools; accommodating remote licensing examinations at post-secondary and professional schools.
- Evaluation requirements for previously, newly, and never diagnosed applicants; undergoing evaluations during a pandemic (the feasibility of remote evaluations).
- Different accommodation needs for different exam formats: paper-based in-person examinations versus computer based in-person examinations versus remote computer-based examinations.
- The October 2020 Remote Bar Exam – what worked, what didn’t, and what NDLSA is doing to support law students with disabilities.
1.5 MCLE Credits (1.5 Areas of Professional Practice)
2:30 p.m.
Welcome
2:30 p.m. – 3:45 p.m.
Topics to be discussed by the panel include:
(1.5 Areas of Professional Practice)
Moderator:
Mary J. Goodwin-Oquendo, Esq.
Jo Anne Simon, P.C.
New York, NY
Melinda R. Saran
Vice Dean for Social Justice Initiatives &Teaching Faculty
Undergraduate Law Academic Advisor
University at Buffalo School of Law
Buffalo, NY
Karen L. Dahlman, Ph.D.
Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
New York, NY
Rebecca Mannis, Ph.D.
Learning Specialist - Neuroscience & Education Specialization
Founder, Ivy Prep Learning Center (www.ivy-prep.com) and 501(c)(3) org, The Mannis Foundation
New York, NY
Jordan Berger, J.D.
Director of Professional Development (external affairs)
The National Disabled Law Student Association (NDLSA)
Skadden Fellow at the National Center for Law and Economic Justice (NCLEJ)
3:45 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Questions & Answers
- Mary J. Goodwin-Oquendo, Esq., Moderator, Jo Anne Simon, P.C.
- Jordan Berger, J.D., The National Disabled Law Student Association
- Karen L. Dahlman, Ph.D, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
- Rebecca Mannis, Ph,D., Ivy Prep Learning Center (The Mannis Foundation)
- Melinda R. Saran, Esq., University at Buffalo Law School
- Webinar
- 0JU11
- Committee on Continuing Legal Education
