Ronbo:
“Accommodations” do not lower the bar – accommodations level the playing field. An accommodation would be a note-taker for a child with cerebral palsy, extra time on a test for a child who processes slowly, visual aids for a visual learner, etc.
“Modifications” are changes in the curriculum. You might consider that “lowering the bar,” but in reality it has opened opportunity. In the past, a child who could not master the curriculum would be denied the curriculum – maybe put into a “life skills” class instead. Now they are allowed to be exposed to the general ed curriculum with modifications for their individual abilities.
For example, take the parts and functions of the cell. An accommodation would be to use manipulatives to build a cell, instead of just a picture. A modification would be learning what a cell does without being able to identify which part does what – so the child who cannot master which part of the cell does what still has the opportunity to learn what cells does, or if the child’s ability is more basic, perhaps that all living things are made up of cells.
