Accessibility and Accommodations Notice

1. Purpose

Proctorly is an educational exam-monitoring tool. Some students may be unable to use Proctorly’s webcam, screen-sharing, fullscreen, identity-photo, or monitoring features because of disability, accommodation needs, device limitations, internet limitations, medical concerns, privacy concerns, religious concerns, home environment, or other circumstances.

This Notice explains that schools, educators, and programs remain responsible for determining and providing legally required accommodations and alternative testing arrangements.

2. Important Notice to Schools and Educators

Proctorly does not determine whether a student is entitled to an accommodation.

Schools, districts, institutions, educators, homeschool parents, tutors, and educational programs remain responsible for:

1. identifying applicable accommodation obligations;
2. reviewing student accommodation requests;
3. applying disability, accessibility, special education, and school policies;
4. providing alternate testing options where required;
5. ensuring that use of Proctorly does not unlawfully exclude or disadvantage students;
6. reviewing flagged events with appropriate sensitivity to disability and accommodation issues.

3. Student Circumstances That May Require Review

A student may need an accommodation, alternate testing mode, or human review where the student:

1. uses assistive technology;
2. has a disability affecting movement, speech, attention, vision, hearing, cognition, or stamina;
3. cannot remain still in view of a webcam;
4. needs breaks during the exam;
5. needs a reader, scribe, interpreter, aide, or assistive device;
6. cannot use screen sharing;
7. cannot use fullscreen mode;
8. has limited internet access;
9. lacks a compatible computer;
10. uses a shared device;
11. has a home environment that may cause false flags;
12. has privacy, safety, religious, or medical concerns;
13. is uncomfortable or unable to show their physical testing environment.

4. Monitoring Flags and Accommodations

Proctorly flags may be triggered by behavior or circumstances unrelated to misconduct.

For example, flags may be caused by:

1. assistive technology;
2. screen readers;
3. speech-to-text tools;
4. accessibility overlays;
5. keyboard navigation;
6. interpreters or aides;
7. medical devices;
8. movement related to disability;
9. breaks required by an accommodation;
10. poor lighting;
11. shared rooms;
12. internet interruptions;
13. device limitations;
14. browser compatibility issues;
15. anxiety or exam stress.

Educators should review flags in context before making any academic decision.

5. No Automatic Adverse Decisions

Schools and educators should not automatically discipline, fail, penalize, or accuse a student based only on a Proctorly flag or AI-assisted report.

Before taking adverse action, schools and educators should consider:

1. whether the student had an accommodation;
2. whether the student requested an accommodation;
3. whether device or internet issues caused the event;
4. whether the flag may be a false positive;
5. whether the student should be allowed to explain;
6. whether school policy requires appeal or review;
7. whether an alternate testing method should have been offered.

6. Alternative Testing Options

Depending on the circumstances, alternatives may include:

1. in-person proctoring;
2. live human proctoring;
3. oral exam;
4. extended time;
5. reduced monitoring settings;
6. no webcam monitoring;
7. no screen recording or snapshots;
8. alternate identity verification;
9. school-supervised testing room;
10. paper-based exam;
11. modified exam schedule;
12. assistive technology exception;
13. teacher-approved override for technical limitations.

The appropriate alternative depends on the student, school policy, exam type, and applicable law.

7. Student-Facing Short Notice

Students may be shown the following short notice:

“If you cannot use webcam monitoring, screen sharing, fullscreen mode, or another Proctorly feature because of a disability, device limitation, internet issue, privacy concern, religious concern, medical issue, or other serious reason, contact your teacher or school before the exam. Your teacher or school is responsible for reviewing accommodation and alternative-testing requests.”

8. Parent-Facing Short Notice

Parents and guardians may be shown the following short notice:

“Proctorly may require webcam access, screen sharing, snapshots, and other monitoring features. If your student needs an accommodation or alternate testing option, please contact the school or educator before the exam. The school or educator is responsible for reviewing accommodation requests and deciding whether an alternate testing method is appropriate.”

9. Teacher Dashboard Reminder

Teacher dashboards should include the following reminder near flagged events:

“Review flags carefully. A flag may be caused by disability, accommodation needs, assistive technology, device issues, internet problems, or environmental factors. Do not treat a flag or AI report as automatic proof of misconduct.”

10. School Responsibility

The school, educator, homeschool parent, tutor, or educational program is responsible for:

1. deciding whether Proctorly is appropriate for a student;
2. offering required accommodations;
3. documenting accommodation decisions;
4. applying school policy;
5. training teachers on accommodation-sensitive review;
6. ensuring students are not unfairly penalized for disability-related or technology-related flags.

11. Contact

Accommodation questions should be directed to the relevant school, educator, or program.

Proctorly support questions may be sent to:

SchoolToolz / Proctorly
Durham, North Carolina, United States
Email: support@proctorly.co