Assessment of Learners with Mild to Moderate Intellectual Disabilities

It is common practice to provide accommo­dations for learners who demonstrate mild to moderate intellectual disability (MID) in conventional assess­ments, including high-stakes examinations. Examples of these accommodations include extra time, readers and scribes, test formats and responses, and assistive devices. One concern is that even with these adjust­ments, academic success remains limited, as they do not address the cognitive load of the task. This study inves­tigated the difficulties faced by learners with MID and how these challenges affect assessment practices. It fol­lowed a qualitative approach, using an online survey to collect qualitative data from 30 schools. Additionally, principals from six schools participated in semi-struc­tured interviews. The data was analysed thematically. The findings indicate that learners with MID have lim­ited cognitive abilities and, therefore, experience diffi­culties in processing and remembering large amounts of information at once. They also have limited execu­tive functions, poor academic attitudes, and short at­tention spans. Regarding current assessment practices, the findings reveal that all formal tests consist primarily of various short-answer question formats; all summative assessments are brief and are sometimes administered once per semester, while practical assessments are given a higher weight than theoretical assessments. This study has uncovered that the use of conven­tional accommodations does not adequately provide learners with MID the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge and competencies. It recommends that education policies be amended to address the current assessment challenges in order to encourage academic success for learners with MID.