2027 Academic Support & Student Well-Being Conference

The accommodation system built to protect students with genuine learning differences has a problem, and both educators and students can see it. In independent schools especially, access to private psychoeducational evaluations has quietly transformed a civil rights protection into a competitive advantage for families with means, eroding trust, fairness, and the integrity of the support system itself.

This session offers something rare: an honest conversation across the teacher-student divide, presented by a 20+ year educator and the high school senior she co-authored with. Together they examine how accommodation misuse happens, who it harms, and what student support professionals can do about it. Drawing on national data, recent journalism, and direct student testimony, attendees will leave with practical language for difficult family conversations and a sharper framework for what genuine equity in accommodation requires.