This year, 21.5% of Upper School (US) students are approved for testing accommodations, a 46% increase from the 2022-23 academic year. US Learning Specialist Cayes Jarda attributes this change to improved tracking and commitment to supporting diverse learners. Students receive support from the US Academic Center if diagnosed with medical conditions that create a learning barrier.
Mx. Jarda and Middle School and US Academic Support Specialist Michael Cadman run the Academic Center. The Academic Center staff work one-on-one with students, host exam prep and drop-in sessions and facilitate a peer tutoring program. They also provide teachers with a learning profile on Veracross that describes a student’s accommodations and how best to support them.
Mx. Jarda said support for neurodiverse students isn’t “one size fits all.”
“The big difference between BB&N and public schools is we don’t modify our programs for kids,” Mx. Jarda said. “Instead, we will accommodate them. We work with students who have all sorts of learning needs and medical needs, too: anything from support with their teachers to support with accessing the curriculum.”
Students go through a tailored approval process before being granted accommodations.
“There isn’t a singular list of approved diagnoses that automatically qualifies a student for accommodations,” Mx. Jarda said. “We consider any well-documented medical, psychological or neurodevelopmental diagnosis that significantly impacts a student’s ability to access the curriculum. Once we go through how that’s affecting the student, we come up with a plan with the evaluator, parents and ourselves and see what we can provide them.”
Extended time is often misunderstood, Mx. Jarda said.
“What I hope I’m doing is trying to demystify accommodations and help people see that it’s not an extra advantage. If anything, neurodiverse students have an extra hurdle to jump over. Extra time is not going to suddenly make someone a straight-A student. So, it’s interesting when people get ruffled feathers about it or call it a boost.”
Students have to learn to self-advocate, Mx. Jarda said.
“Kids who have accommodations here, we expect them to be responsible and communicate with their teachers and make sure that they have what they need.”
Quinn Reynolds ’27 has extra time accommodations for dyslexia.
“I have other accommodations, but I don’t use them,” she said. “I don’t know if it would be a longer conversation if I asked to use them. Because a lot of kids have extra time, a lot of teachers are pretty understanding. I’ve never had someone say, ‘No, you can’t use it.’”
Extra time accommodations can be difficult to schedule.
“I miss a lot of free blocks, and sometimes I miss lunch, but I’d rather have that than not have my extra time,” Quinn said. “I would probably not finish a single assessment if I didn’t have it, so it’s worth it.”
Quinn has seen the number of students with accommodations increase.
“I don’t know if anybody else had dyslexia, or people just didn’t speak about it, but I felt like I was the only one, and now I feel like everyone has an accommodation,” she said. “I feel like more people do than don’t.”
Ella Harlev ’27 has noticed the same trend.
“The increase may be because, as you get older, more factors can play into test-taking, such as test anxiety,” she said. “When you’re a high school student, it’s easier to be in touch with things such as anxiety, which may produce an increase in students needing extra time.”
US History Teacher Scott Tang said the education industry has increasingly addressed neurodiversity.
“As a teacher, accommodations are things that I’ve dealt with, but as a student when I was younger, these are not things I knew anything about. I appreciate how the teachers and the school are trying to look out for each individual student, trying to see what they’re capable of doing and creating opportunities for them to show what they can do.”
