Case Study: Accessible Testing Center Design & Implementation — Southern Oregon University

Executive Overview

While serving as Accommodations Coordinator at Southern Oregon University, I led a major initiative to achieve legal compliance under the Americans with Disabilities Act by redesigning the accommodated student testing environment. The project moved beyond simple compliance to create a high-efficiency facility and operational model. The solution combined human factors design (calming aesthetics), process innovation (digital sign-in/out, video monitoring), and physical construction. This ultimately led to expanded equity and resource sustainability by providing space and means to serve the entire student body, not just those with documented disabilities.

Challenge

The initial challenge was a significant operational and legal exposure point:

Non-Compliance: An efficacy study revealed that the university's current accommodated testing space was not in legal compliance with federal mandates, lacking the physical capacity to serve the full population of students requiring testing accommodations.

Capacity Gap: The existing resources were so inadequate that the facility could not properly accommodate even 50% of students requiring accommodations if they scheduled at peak times.

Inefficient Process: The testing environment lacked modern controls, creating a stressful experience for students and exposing the university to integrity risks associated with monitoring non-standard testing times.

Approach

The approach combined rigorous research with practical implementation, leading to an innovative physical and procedural redesign.

Compliance Assessment and Cost-Benefit Analysis: Compliance risk was first validated, then a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis to justify the required capital investment for a new center to university leadership was conducted.

Best Practice Research: A multi-state research effort was executed, including on-site visits and evaluation of best practices at six different colleges and universities across Oregon and California to inform the optimal design and functionality.

Innovative Redesign Proposal: The final proposal detailed the conversion of an underutilized conference room into a specialized testing center, incorporating specific, cost-effective design elements:

• Physical Security: Testing cubicles with high privacy dividers to eliminate the possibility of visual cheating

• Digital Integrity: A live-stream camera system for active monitoring and an automated test time punch system (digital sign-in/sign-out) to record and verify the exact duration of each exam

• Human Factors Design: Sage green paint in the testing room to create a calming, studious environment, based on research into human psychology and concentration

Impact

The project delivered immediate legal compliance while creating a scalable, high-efficiency resource that benefited the entire university.

Legal Compliance Achieved: The new center immediately resolved ADA non-compliance issues by providing adequate, supervised space for all students requiring accommodations.

Operational Efficiency: The combination of secure cubicles and the automatic time punch system created a streamlined testing environment, significantly reducing the administrative burden of monitoring testing integrity.

Expanded Equity and Sustainability: The success of the new model led to executive approval for expanding the service to include students without documented disabilities who required a quiet environment with extended time (with professor approval). This positioned the center as a campus-wide resource, thereby expanding equity and maximizing the return on the university's capital investment.

———

This project is a strong example of how compliance challenges can be reframed as opportunities to improve equity, efficiency, and institutional value all at once. If your organization is facing a similar operational or compliance challenge, visit the Services page to learn more about how Local Efficiency Solutions can help.