Providing accommodations for students with special needs is top of mind at Formative. Teachers on a School & District license can provide accommodations to students at the global level, setting up the accommodation once and have it applied for every formative*.
What is High Contrast?
If enabled, students who have the Color Contrast accommodation will have the ability to toggle between standard and high-contrast color themes while taking formatives and completing lessons. The tool improves accessibility for students with visual impairments or specific lighting needs.
Color Contrast selection made by the student on a formative or lesson will be saved and persist across all other formatives and lessons the student will access - until changed by the student.
Note: In secure or lockdown environments, the High Contrast tool remains visible but non-interactive to ensure consistent testing conditions
Set a global accommodation for Color Contrast
Student Management Page Pathway:
Go to your "Classes" tab
Click on the title of the class the student is a member of, to open the "Student Management" page
Click the "eye" icon next to "Accommodations"
Next to the student's name click on the blue highlighted status (this can read "None" or showcase a different accommodation)
In the pop-up window, toggle on the Color Contrast button
Click "Update" to confirm the accommodation
Once a Color Contrast accommodation has been set for a student, the status under "Accommodations" will change to include it on a regular basis.
Student Profile Page Pathway
Go to your "Classes" tab
Click on the title of the class the student is a member of, to open the "Student Management" page
Locate the student and click the carat next to their name, to navigate to the "Student Profile" page
Click on the blue highlighted status next to "Accommodations" at the top of the page (this may read "None" or showcase a different accommodation)
In the pop-up window, toggle-on the Color Contrast button
Click "Update" to confirm the accommodation
Once a Color Contrast accommodation has been set for a student, the status next to "Accommodations" at the top of the page will change to include it on a regular basis.
Set up accommodations in bulk
If you need to set up the same accommodation for multiple students, you can take this action in-bulk:
From your "Student Management" page - check mark the boxes next to all the students you'd like to set up the accommodation for
Choose "Set Accommodations" from the menu at the bottom of the screen
In the pop-up window, toggle-on the Color Contrast button
Click "Update" to confirm the accommodation
Once a Color Contrast accommodation has been set for the students, the status under "Accommodations" will change to include it on a regular basis.
Remove an accommodation
Student Management Page Pathway
Go to your "Classes" tab
Click on the title of the class the student is a member of, to open the Student Management page
Click on the eye icon next to "Accommodations"
Next to the student's name click on the blue highlighted status (this will now indicate the Color Contrast accommodation)
Un-toggle the Color Contrast button
Click "Update" to save
Note: only setting up accommodations in currently available for bulk action. If you need to change or remove accommodations for students, you will need to do so for each student individually
Student Profile Page Pathway
Go to your "Classes" tab
Click on the title of the class the student is a member of, to open the Student Management page
On the "Student Management" page locate the student and click the carat next to their name, to navigate to the "Student Profile" page
Click on the blue highlighted status next to "Accommodations" at the top of the page (this will now indicate the Color Contrast accommodation)
Un-toggle the Color Contrast button
Click "Update" to save
NOTE:
Accommodations are set globally on the student level. This means that once accommodations have been set for a student, they will apply for that student across the board: on all formatives and in all classes!
If a teacher changes or removes an accommodation from the "classes" tab or the student's profile - it will effect the student's accommodations for all classes and other teachers as well.
FAQ & Troubleshooting
🙋🏽 The student's Color Contrast accommodation doesn't apply to my class / subject - What do I do?
If a student has a Color Contrast accommodation, the teacher can disable it for the student on a formative level, i.e. on any specific formative they assign to the student, without affecting the accommodation on other formatives or classes. This can be achieved from the formative's assign settings window, under: Student Management Settings > Accommodations (see full instructions below).
On your formative's assign settings window, you will see the number of students with accommodations (in general) next to the "Accommodations" setting. Click on the carat to reveal the list of students along with their specific accommodations.
Click the carat next to "Accommodations" to reveal the list of students and their accommodations (if applicable)
Click the blue-highlighted accommodation status next to a student's name
Toggle off the Color Contrast button
Click "Update" to save the changes for this specific formative
🙋🏽♀️ I want to give a Color Contrast accommodation on my formative to students without the Global accommodation, can I do that?
Yes! Teachers can grant a one-time, formative-specific Color Contrast accommodation access to students even if they do not have a global accommodation set on their accounts.
When you access the assign settings window, you will see the number of students with accommodations (in general) next to the "Accommodations" setting. Click on the carat to reveal the list of students in your class. Students that have the global accommodation will be listed there along with their specific accommodations. You can add the Color Contrast accommodation to additional students at this time and they will have access to it for this formative only.
Add the formative-specific Color Contrast to students:
Click the carat next to "Accommodations" to reveal the list of students along with their respective global accommodations (if applicable)
Click on the blue-highlighted accommodation status next to a student's name
Toggle ON the Color Contrast button for the student
Click "Update" to save the changes for this specific formative
You can then proceed to assign the formative to the class
The Student's View
When students open a formative, they will see the menu of Global Learning Tools on the right side of their screen, and a Color Contrast icon will appear within it.
Clicking on the Color Contrast will open another menu, where students will be able to select between standard and high contrast.
Students will check mark their preferred option, and can then use the X at the top right corner of the menu or click the Color Contrast icon again to exit the menu.
