Acceptance of Colored Overlays in the Education Community

Dear Educator:

At times, there is a question as to the appropriateness of the use of colored overlays to help students cope with the symptoms of visual dyslexia. Most states offer color accommodations for instruction and assessment. For online/computer assessments, contrast/color choices are available, and for paper-based assessments, colored overlays are available. Most states require that the color accommodations be used for both instruction and assessment throughout the year, as well. At this time, the assessment systems that are used for the English Language Arts standards are as follows: Fifteen states are using Smarter Balanced assessments, eight states are using PARCC assessments and four are using Pearson assessments. The remaining states use their own tests or a combination of publishers.

Perry, Gayle, Ed.D. State Accommodations for Instruction and Assessment in the Fifty States. See It Right.