Modified Attendance Accommodation

This approved accommodation is for students with chronic conditions that are episodic in nature when there are periods of time in which the functional impact of their disability prevents them from attending class  (if attendance is not an essential requirement). The purpose of this reasonable accommodation is to ensure they are not disproportionately penalized for exacerbations of their condition that prevent them from being present for every class session due to their disability. This accommodation is typically used for students whose condition may be unpredictable and inevitable despite appropriate treatment, self-management, and time management strategies. Implementation of this accommodation is determined on a case-by-case basis. 

The accommodation that is approved by ODS is as follows:

  • Reasonably modify attendance policy offering additional absences for disability-related reasons without fundamentally altering the learning objectives or essential requirements of the course. 
  • The ability to reschedule exams/quizzes when required due to disability related reasons. Exams/quizzes to be made up typically within a week’s timeframe or following the exam make up policy as outlined in the course syllabus.

The language that appears in the Letter of Accommodation:

Reasonably modify attendance policy offering additional absences and the ability to reschedule exams/quizzes within a week for disability-related reasons if it does not fundamentally alter the essential requirements of the course (See FAQ section below regarding essential requirement determinations and processes). 

Note 1: The language is slightly different on the LOA due to character restrictions on the actual letter.

Note 2: This accommodation is also different for some schools (e.g., the law school), clinical programs, labs, etc. which may have their own accreditation or requirements that may alter the implementation of this accommodation to meet these specific requirements. 

Key Points about Modified Attendance

  • ODS has already reviewed the student’s information and whether they qualify for this accommodation related to their disability. 
  • The reasonable standard for this accommodation is determined through a process that includes input from the faculty/instructor, the school, and ODS.  In this determination, the instructor (in consultation with ODS and the school administration) must assess whether a certain number of additional absences could be considered a reasonable accommodation in individual courses. 
  • Several things should be taken into consideration with this decision including the learning objectives of the course, the essential requirements, and the purpose of course meetings.
  • The role of attendance, due dates, and participation varies from course to course. Therefore, it is important for faculty/instructors and students to discuss how the Modified Attendance Accommodation will be handled within individual courses. Students or faculty can consult with the Office of Disability Services at the campus they are enrolled in.  If faculty or students have further questions or want to discuss further, please contact the Office of Disability Services (ODS) coordinator that signed the letter of accommodation. 
  • Students receiving this accommodation are still expected to regularly attend class and complete exams/quizzes within a reasonable amount of time (typically within one week or less). 
  • When this accommodation is implemented, it is the student's responsibility to communicate about the absence or need to reschedule an exam/quiz with the professor/instructor as close as possible to the absence.  
  • Modified Attendance, and Exam Rescheduling Accommodations do not waive deadlines, exam dates, or attendance policies and cannot compromise course requirements. Please utilize them on an as-needed basis. The accommodation simply modifies deadlines, exams dates, or attendance policies.

Not retroactive

  • Students can register with ODS at any time during the semester; it is recommended that students register with ODS as early as possible. Students who have absences prior to being approved for modified attendance will not be eligible for retroactive accommodations. 
  • Students can request an approved letter of accommodations (LOA) at any time during the semester; it is recommended that they request their LOA as early as possible. If a student chooses to request their LOA after an absence or missed exam/quiz, they will not be eligible for retroactive accommodations. Students who do not follow the established procedures within this document may not be eligible for this accommodation retroactively. 

 

  • Non-disability-related situations

    • Modified attendance accommodations do not cover non-disability-related reasons as to why a student missed classes, deadlines, or exams/quizzes. Such cases should be addressed according to the attendance, assignment deadline, or missed exam/quiz policy stated in the syllabus.
      • Examples of non-disability-related reasons may include short-term sickness, regularly scheduled doctor appointments, procedures, work conflicts, etc.
    • For absences unrelated to your disability, as per University Policy, students should utilize the Rutgers Self-Reporting Absence Application, to quickly notify faculty of your absences. This system is not applicable to Rutgers Health (formerly RBHS) students. Rutgers Health students should contact their faculty members.

      Please Note that reporting your absences does not excuse you from any assigned work, all students are responsible for completing all assigned work, even while they are absent.  
Responsibilities Upon Receipt of the Letter of Accommodation
    • Submit the Letter of Accommodation form as soon as possible in the semester. Remember, the accommodation is not retroactive and needs to be implemented before the accommodation is required.
    • Communicate with faculty/instructors about the modified attendance accommodation and how the accommodation will be implemented. For example:
      • How many classes may be missed before affecting grades?
      • How should the student communicate with instructor/faculty when missing a course due to disability-related reasons?
      • What is the deadline for making up the exam/quiz that was missed?
      • How will the exam or quiz be administered, and what form will the make-up exam/quiz take? See FAQ’s below for more information.
    • Conversations between the student and instructors regarding how this accommodation will be implemented within each course can happen with or without the assistance of the ODS Coordinator.  Oftentimes, this can be worked out without the involvement of ODS.  However, ODS is more than happy to be involved in discussing and working this out with students and instructors. Please contact the ODS Coordinator who signed the LOA if necessary.
    • Once an agreement is put in place, the student and professor are strongly encouraged to put the agreement in writing and share it with the student’s ODS Coordinator. 
    • As soon as you’re able, check in with your instructor(s) regarding missed work or assignments during your absence and how to make them up.
    • Be sure to regularly attend classes, exams, quizzes, and complete all required coursework as outlined in the course syllabus. Implement the modification as needed for disability-related reasons only. Contact your ODS Coordinator with any accommodation-related questions or concerns.
    • The student may not request ongoing rescheduling of the same exam/quiz and must complete the rescheduled exam/quiz by the agreed upon date. If this agreement requires renegotiation or further collaboration, contact the Coordinator listed on the LOA.
    • Respond to the student to confirm receipt of the Letter of Accommodation.
    • Communicate with the student regarding all accommodations listed on the LOA and ensure that it is understood by both the student and faculty/instructor what each one means and how it will be implemented.  For example:
      • How many classes may be missed before affecting grades?
      • How should the student communicate with the instructor/faculty when missing a course due to disability reasons?
      • What is the deadline for making exams/quizzes missed?
      • How will the exam or quiz be administered, and what form will the make-up exam/quiz take? See FAQ’s below for more information.
    • Identify the limits under which modified attendance will be provided in relation to the course’s essential requirements.
    • Once an agreement is put in place, the student and professor are strongly encouraged to put the agreement in writing and share it with the student’s ODS Coordinator. 
    • Ensure that your syllabus clearly states practices and policies regarding attendance for your course. 
    • Determine if this is a fundamental alteration of the course. If so, this must be determined at a school administration level in consultation with ODS and faculty/instructors teaching the course. If this is determined to be a fundamental alteration through an appropriate determination process, the instructor/school and ODS should determine if an alternative accommodation may be possible.
    • Communicate with the student if they miss more than the agreed upon days and be clear about how this will affect their grade prior to the end of the semester.
    • Contact the ODS Coordinator with any questions about the modified attendance accommodation.
    • Address any questions faculty/instructors/student may have and provide consultation when needed.
    • Work with the school/instructor to address any concerns related to essential requirements of the course. 
    • For further information, please review our accommodation basics web page. 
Frequently Asked Questions about Modified Attendance

  • If a student has a chronic, documented disability with unpredictable or cyclical acute episodes, adjustments to the attendance policy may be appropriate as an accommodation and will be considered on a case-by-case basis. The purpose of this accommodation is to mitigate, to the greatest extent possible, the impacts of the student’s disability. The accommodation is meant to adjust when, or if, there is an exacerbation of disability-related symptoms that prohibit a student’s ability to attend class, lab, discussion section, exam/quiz, etc. This accommodation is intended to allow reasonable flexibility beyond any stated attendance policies to account for a student’s documented intermittent disability-related need. 

    Note:  This flexibility is in addition to flexibility according to class or school policy related to illness, a death in the family, etc. afforded to all students in the class. For absences unrelated to a student’s disability, as per University Policy, students should utilize the Rutgers Self-Reporting Absence Application, to quickly notify faculty of your absences. This system is not applicable to Rutgers Health (formerly RBHS) students.

  • All ODS reasonable accommodations are determined on a case-by-case basis and course by course basis through a registration, interview, and documentation review process with each student and ODS. For further information on this process, visit the Accommodations Basics for Faculty web site. 

  • Faculty/instructors should meet with the student after receiving the LOA in the faculty portal.  The meeting should consist of a shared understanding of the modified attendance accommodation. Here are some general guidelines:

    1. Determine a general number of additional absences the student may request beyond the course attendance policy.
    2. Discuss the responsibilities of the student and/or instructor to facilitate the accommodation throughout the semester.
    3. Ensure understanding of any exceptions to parameters where the accommodation may not apply due to fundamentally altering the basic course expectations.
    4. Determine the parameters for making up any missed components of the course, including participation in course meetings and exams, quizzes, and finals.
    5. Communicate as soon as possible with the student if they miss more than the agreed upon days and how this will affect their grade. This should happen prior to the end of the semester.
    6. Once an agreement is put in place, the student and professor should put the agreement in writing and share it with the student’s ODS Coordinator. 
    7. Ensure that your syllabus clearly states practices and policies regarding attendance for your course. 

    It is the responsibility of the course instructor and the department/school to establish reasonable parameters of modified attendance accommodations in conjunction with ODS. Please see the guiding questions below to help determine the parameters and boundaries of flexibility based on the design of your class.

    Note: For more details, view the faculty/instructor responsibilities section of this page.

    • Does your syllabus clearly state practices and policies regarding attendance for your course?
    • When should a student notify the instructor of the need to miss a class, exam, or quiz?
    • What is the best way to communicate with the student, and what information should be included?
    • How many days will a student be allowed to reschedule a missed exam or quiz (time after the original exam date)?
    • How many exams or quizzes may be rescheduled during a semester?
    • How many classes may be missed before substantially affecting learning and engagement?
    • How do students access information taught and shared during a missed class?
    • Are there any classes or exams that cannot be modified and what are the reasons why?

  • Yes, as mentioned, all courses are highly individualized and may warrant other considerations when implementing this accommodation.  Here are some ways that you might consider alternatives.

    • Provide class notes on a class website or assist students in getting notes from a classmate or TA when the student is absent from class due to disability.
    • Permit students to attend another section of the class or view an online version if available
    • Permit students to view equivalent course content as available (e.g., anatomy dissection, Shakespearian play, etc.)
    • If discussions are missed, consider having the student keep a journal for contributions, e-mail comments to instructors and/or classmates, or meet during office hours
    • Administer the same exam the class took as a make-up exam with a clearly communicated expectation that the honor code regarding test integrity will be enforced.
    • Modify the existing exam by rearranging the question order and/or adding new questions.
    • Substitute an exam from a previous semester if only minor changes to the content are needed to match relevance to the current semester’s material.
    • Substitute a paper, project, presentation, or oral exam for the written exam.
    • Drop the missed exam and re-weigh the remaining exams.

  • ODS has already reviewed the student's information and whether they qualify for this accommodation. However, the reasonable standard for this accommodation is determined through a process that includes input from the faculty/instructor, the school, and ODS.  In this determination, the instructor (in consultation with ODS and the school administration) must assess whether a certain number of absences could be considered a reasonable accommodation, taking into consideration the learning objectives of the course and the purpose of course meeting. We encourage faculty/instructors, when consulting with ODS about this accommodation, to consider the following questions: 

    1. Interactions between the instructor and the student: How many course meetings are there significant interaction between the instructor and students during the class meeting (e.g., discussion, interactive experiences, problem solving)?
    2. Interactions between classmates and the student: How many course meetings are there significant classroom interactions among students during the class sessions (e.g., peer review, teamwork, group discussions)?
    3. Active student participation: How does the fundamental learning objective of the course rely on active student participation during the class meeting (e.g., lab experiments, paired language learning, performance work, clinical placement rotations)?
    4. Impact to Collective Learning: Will the student’s absence or variable attendance constitute a significant loss of the educational experience for the student and/or classmates (e.g., group or paired projects, performances) and/or cause a disturbance to course instruction?

  • Students who are approved for this accommodation are still expected to meet the course requirements, including attendance and participation requirements outlined by the faculty/instructor in the course syllabus. Included in these expectations are: 

    1. Students are expected to attend class regularly, arrive prepared for class, and be knowledgeable of the course material previously covered. 
    1. Exception to the attendance policy does not mean an exception to any of the academic requirements of the course. Students are required to fulfill all course requirements and will be held to the same evaluation standards as specified in the course syllabus. 
    1. Absences unrelated to the documented disability are not covered by this accommodation as mentioned above. 
    1. Absences may have a negative impact on academic performance, even when approved, simply because of the content and experiential learning that has been missed by not being in class. For this reason, students should make every attempt to attend class and observe deadlines for submission of assignments. 
    1. That for Modified Attendance related to rescheduling exams/quizzes, the accommodation is intended to allow reasonable flexibility beyond existing exam/quiz dates to account for a student’s documented intermittent disability-related needs. This accommodation is not intended to be used for every exam/quizor to support regular or consistent rescheduling of existing exams/quizzes, nor is this accommodation intended to fundamentally alter the essential elements of a course. Students receiving this modified attendance accommodation are still expected to complete all course exams/quizzes.  
    1. That an agreed upon number of absences and an agreed upon rescheduled date for exams/quizzes are binding.  If this agreement requires renegotiation or collaboration, the student should contact their ODS Coordinator immediately.  If the instructor/faculty and ODS do not renegotiate the number of absences or another agreed upon date for exam/quiz make-up, then this will most likely affect the grade for the course accordingly. 
    2. That instructors are not expected to provide individualized instruction or extraordinary assistance to help a student make up material missed during a disability-related absence. For example, instructors are generally not required to reteach lectures individually, provide one-on-one tutoring, create new instructional materials or study guides etc. Students remain responsible for obtaining course materials, reviewing missed content, and completing assigned work. 

    Note: See the student responsibilities section of this page for more information.

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