ADA Compliance Office is located at the Office of Special Services and is available for both Staff and Students.
The Grievance procedure is for both Staff and Students.
TESTING ADMINISTRATION PROCEDURES and POLICIES
Methods of Test Delivery
All accommodating exams will be conducted at an assigned OSS test room, and should be delivered to OSS according to one of the methods listed below.
Regardless of the delivery method, the test/exam must be received at FH013 by OSS a few days prior to the testing date, accompanied by the blue form (TABF) indicating where/how the test is to be delivered (or returned) once it has been completed.
1. Professor/instructor personally delivers the test/exam in a sealed envelope or emails it to: SPSV.TESTING@QC.CUNY.EDU
2. Instructor or department designee delivers exam.
3. Instructor faxes exam and indicates on the accompanying blue form (TABF) the fax number to which the exam should be sent. He/she also should list the name(s)of the student(s), the name of the class, and any special instructions for the proctors. (Make a copy of exam for additional students, include Scantron sheet, etc.)
4. Instructor emails test/exam to test/exam-specific email, indicating on the accompanying blue form (TABF) that the exam is being sent by email. He/she also should list the name(s)of the student(s), the name of the class, and any special instructions for the proctors (make a copy of test/exam for additional students, include Scantron sheet, etc.).
Note: Only in an emergency will the OSS pick up a test. The instructor must indicate on the accompanying blue form (TABF) that the test is being picked up by the OSS staff.
Logging In/Out of Tests
Recording of the exam arrival and departure times is necessary for test security and also to aid in avoiding exam misplacement. As exams are logged in when received, the following information also is to be recorded:
1. Name of student, course, and instructor;
2. Date and time the test was received;
3. Date of test administration.
When exams are being returned, the following information is to be recorded:
1. Signature of person returning test (student, instructor, staff);
2. Date and time it leaves test site;
3. Where the test is to be delivered.
Returning the Completed Test
Proctors will return the test/exam in a sealed envelope according to the instructions on the blue form (TABF) that accompanied the exam when it was delivered to OSS.
Testing Schedule
The Testing Schedule is to be completed by students and instructors in order to schedule testing that requires reasonable accommodations, such as extended time, reader, scribe, etc. The following points must be observed:
1. The professor must complete the blue form (TABF) at least one week prior to regularly scheduled testing date.
2. The professor must treat the student receiving accommodations the same as the rest of the class.
3. A separate blue form should be completed for each course in which the student requires testing accommodations.
Starting a Test
1. Check the blue form (TABF) to identify authorized materials for use during the test.
2. Ask student(s) to leave book bags and all other unauthorized materials in an appropriate location.
3. Ensure that student(s) receive(s) approved accommodations (reader, scribe, reduced distraction, extended time, etc.).
4. Lead student(s) to test site, and inform them of the following:
a. Time allowed;
b. Type of accommodations: (i) start time; (ii) projected end time; and (iii) return location upon exam completion.
Proctoring a Test
1. Test proctors may be any of the following: staff or work-study student employee monitored by staff member.
2. Proctor responsibilities are as follows:
a. Maintain test confidentiality and security;
b. Receive, administer, and return exams;
c. Monitor students during test.
3. Inappropriate proctor activities are as follows:
a. Answering test-related questions;
b. Reading/scribing a test without having a general knowledge of the subject matter (above the level of the student taking the examination).
4. Using cell phones. Exam Breaks
As in a regular classroom, students must go to the restroom or take water breaks before their exams. However, as with a regular class, students with disabilities will lose the time that they take for their break from the total exam time. If a student's disability is such that his or her
documentation supports extended break times, an exception to this rule will be made. To
maintain exam security, break policies should be established.
1. Staff will review documentation to determine break accommodations (if any).
2. Staff should inform students that extended time may include breaks, and this point should be written on the blue form (TABT).
3. Students should inform proctors of the need for extended break time before the exam begins.
4. If there is a break, students may not leave the test site during the break, and students should be escorted to and from the facilities.
5. If leaving the testing room, students must turn in their exam materials to the proctors; their exam materials may be retrieved when they returning to the exam.
6. All books, book bags, coats, etc., must remain in the designated area undisturbed unless otherwise noted by the profesor.
Test/Exam Clarification
Students completing exams at the test site will likely have questions regarding their exam. Unlike the regular class, students taking exams at the test site do not have ready access to the instructor. Test-site staff are not permitted to answer any exam-related questions. Students' questions may be answered only in the following ways:
1. Students may call the instructor or department staff—with permission from the test-site staff.
2. Students may write a note to the instructor on the "Exam Comment Form" and include it in the exam packet if the instructor is unreachable.
3. The "Exam Comment Form" also may be used to document any unusual exam situations.
Ending a Test/Exam
To end an exam, proctors do the following:
I. Require the student to complete exam by designated time.
2. Collect all exam materials.
3. Record end time on the blue form (TABT) and the test/exam envelope.
4. Place the exam in a sealed envelope.
5. Log out exam (see log in/out procedures, above).
6. Return the exam to instructor/department.
Returning a Test/Exam
On the blue form (TABT), the instructor should indicate the preferred method for returning the exam:
1. The instructor/department designee will pick up the completed exam at the test site.
2. The procter(s) will deliver the test/exam in a sealed envelope to the location previously indicated on the blue form (TABT).
3. OSS staff will return the exam to the instructor/department by hand delivery. If this method is chosen, a return sheet (companion to the log sheet) should be established to record the following:
a. Date and time the exam is returned;
b. Building and room number where it is returned; and
c. Signature of person who is accepting the exam.
d. YOU must ensure that signatures are on the form: Your signature and the person that is taking the test. No more initials.
4. OSS will fax the exam back to the instructor or department.
a. OSS will email the exam back to the instructor or department.
Makeup Tests/Exams
For a student to reschedule a test/exam, the student must meet with their Disability Counselor to discuss the reason for the need to reschedule the test. It is the Counselor's decision whether to permit the rescheduling; this should be a case-by-case decision. The following are the criteria and the processes for rescheduling a test/exam:
1. Does the student have a track record chronically rescheduling his or her tests?
2. Can the student provide a doctor's note explaining any prior absences?
3. The Counselor must speak to the professor to discuss and clarify the situation. The Counselor also must inform the professor that rescheduling the test for a later date might damage the integrity of the test/exam.
4. If the student has not rescheduled any prior test, the Counselor can choose to approve the rescheduling of test.
5. The Counselor must call the professor to obtain the appropriate information and approval for rescheduling the test/exam.
Testing Incidents:
If there is an incident in the Testing Center (TC), the incident is to be recorded in the incident Book; by the staff person in the TC that witnessed the incident.
An administrator is to be call immediately and informed of the incident. Incidents that should be recorded and administrator informed:
· Student that comes in 20 minutes or more lately for test. (reschedule the test)
· Student that is caught cheating on a test (contact department as well as the administrator).
· Student talking and disrupting the other students testing
· A professor coming in and talking to student
· If a student ask you to discard the scrap paper, please inform the student to discard it themselves and record it in the incident book.
· If the professor does not deliver the test at least a day in advance, the test MUST be scheduled and it is written as an incident.
Testing UPDATES:
b. There will be no test setup for after 5pm. If that is done, it will be only through Dr. Hickey.
c. DO NOT give a blue form and DO NOT allow a student to register for a test if its within just 2 or three days unless Dr. Hickey or Gail Reischer approves it.
d. DO NOT tell a professor he/she does not have to provide accommodations for any reason. Once the professor is aware the student is requesting accommodations from the blue form, the professor does not have a choice but to provide the accommodations. In this case it would be a copy of the test to OSS Testing Center.
e. Proctoring means: for the Proctor
i. NO reading a novel
ii. NO homework
iii. No Talking or texting on the cell phones
iv. No Talking to the students testing
v. Not walking out to talk to anyone unless Dr. Hickey comes down to speak to you. Proctoring is sitting and watching the students taking their tests. You can walk around watching
them, if there are more than two students testing, but no speaking to them, just monitor.
f. Printing test after a student takes it on the computer: The student will print it not the staff. Once the students prints it, the student will give it to the staff person on duty.
g. Test: WE do not pick up test. Professors have to drop them off, at least one day before the test. If the test is not in by 4pm the day prior, inform Dr. Hickey to reschedule the test for another day and inform the professor. Write this in the incident book.
h. Do not discard any material for the student. If the student ask you to discard the scrap paper, tell them you are not allowed to and then watch the student discard the scrap paper and record in the incident book.
Assistive Technology Services:
Addressing the needs of disabled students.
Technology has become an integrated part of the academic experience. The Assistive Technology Services Center, located in Kiely Hall suite 173, is dedicated to ensuring accessibility to technology to students with disabilities.
The AT lab is provided by the Office of Special Services. The hours are the same as that of the OSS. The lab offers numerous technologies to assist students with disabilities. The services are listed below with each purpose: If you are to use the lab you need to sign in and sign out. The AT staff member is Faruk Hasan, you can call him or ask him to assist you.
Accommodations and supportive services depend on the disability and the level of support each student has. For example if a student has dysgraphia, or cannot write the notes due to a learning or physical disability, we will assign the student a note taker. If the student is visually or hearing impaired, we will provided them with a laptop that has the software that will address the particular disability, such enlarging text, voice control and organizational planning such as inspiration. The following is list of accommodations and supportive services that the Office of Special Services provides the students with disabilities.
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Interpreting Services:
The Office of Special Services (OSS) at Queens College has made a commitment to provide high quality interpreting in the classroom for its students. Our goal is to continue improving and emending the services provided to our deaf/hard of hearing students who have a documented hearing loss on file with our office and who request services through the Office of Special Services.
Student Rights and Responsibilities:
It is Imperative that students adhere to the following procedures to assure the timeliness and quality of services.
Students may request a particular interpreter associated with the contracting-agency used. The interpreting agency will make their best effort to provide the preferred interpreter. However, neither the Americans with Disabilities Act ( ADA) nor the Rehabilitation Act specifies this. Although The II of the ADA, which applies to public colleges, requires such colleges to give primary consideration' to the communication preferences of the individual, it does not require a college to honor one's preference for the 'person' providing the accommodations (Kincaid, Disability Compliance for Higher Education (June 1998) 3).
· All students receiving interpreting services are required to have documentation of their hearing loss on file at the Office of Special Services
· Students must give semester course schedules to Office of Special Services at least 2 weeks prior to the first day of classes to assure that interpreters will be available at the first class.
· Students must notify the Office of Special Services of any room / time changes if they differ from the students schedule that is on file.
· Students must notify the Office of Special Services of all class cancelations immediately.
· Students must give 48 hour notice to the Office of Special Services when cancelling any academic related interpreting services. If 48 hour notice is not possible, any notice, regardless of time, should be given to Office of Special Services.
· Students must give Office of Special Services 24 notice for any scheduling appointment or change. Students must submit request in writing on the interpreter request' form.
· Students must notify the Office of Special Services, as so as possible, as to the reason for the failure to cancel an interpreter when not attending class.
· Students may be subject to suspension of services when the no-show behavior occurs the second time in a semester, the Office of Civil Rights found that the policy of suspending services after two class 'no-shows.
· Students must use the interpreter request' form to request either one interpreter or no interpreter when taking a written test in the Office of Special Services or the classroom.
· Students who turn away a qualified interpreter for an academic function, may not be provided another interpreter for the same function again. ,
· If a student decides to drop a class they should drop before the college’s last day to drop without special permission from your Vice President; otherwise Office of Special Services may consider it to be an undue burden to provide interpreting services for the same class taken another semester.
· If a student has a concern about an interpreter's skills and/or effective communication for an assignment, students should submit a detailed written statement on the Student Grievance Form (Provide Link) to the Office of Special Services in a timely manner.
Office of Special Services ' Rights and Responsibilities:
· Office of Special Services will provide interpreting services for all academic university related programs and classes.
· Office of Special Services may not provide interpreting services for a class another semester, if the class is dropped after the college late date to drop without special permission from your Vice President.
· Office of Special Services may not provide interpreting services for the some academic function if a student turns away a qualified interpreter.
· Office of Special Services will keep track of all written requests from students for interpreting services.
· Office of Special Services will keep all no-show and tardiness information on file.
· Office of Special Services will keep records of written statements submitted by students about concerns dealing with interpreters.
· Office of Special Services will encourage feedback from the student In order to collaborate and resolve any reported conflict or concerns.
· The Information is intended solely as informal guidance, and is not a determination of your legal rights or responsibilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act ( ADA).
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Voter Registration
- "Under the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) of 1993, the Office of Services for Students with Disabilities is an Agency-Based Registration Site, where students are offered the opportunity to become registered voters. Applications are available in Room Frese Hall 111. For more information please visit the State Board of Elections home page at www.elections.state.ny.us/voting.html. "
Office of Special Services for Students with Disabilities
Office: Frese Hall, room 111
Telephone: 718-997-5870 / Fax: 718-997-5895
email: QC_SPSV@qc.cuny.edu
