Too Many Cooks and Codes: Making Sense of Accommodation Chaos

Let me put it plain and simple—trying to manage testing accommodations without a solid system in place is a recipe for disaster. You’ve got diagnosticians, 504 and LPAC coordinators, campus testing coordinators, Special Education directors… all doing their part, but often not speaking the same language.

And when that happens? Things get messy fast.

Too Many Cooks in the Kitchen

I used to say it felt like too many cooks in the kitchen—each one with their own recipe, their own utensils, and no one quite sure what the final dish is supposed to be. Everyone’s trying to help, but if there’s no common language or process, it’s just chaos.

You’ve got different departments using different vendors. Each one sets accommodations up a little differently. Some teams are super detailed, others keep it vague. And suddenly, you’re a district testing coordinator trying to make sense of hundreds—sometimes thousands—of accommodation codes, and wondering how it all turned into soup.

That’s where TestHound changes the game.

What a Smooth Setup Looks Like

Here’s what it looks like when everything does work like it should:

1. Special Education and other teams finalize accommodations in their respective systems (Frontline, SameGoal, etc.).
2. Those systems send nightly updates to TestHound. ‍
3. District testing coordinators match those incoming accommodations to their correct testing versions—like embedded supports for Cambium. ‍
4. Campus testing coordinators validate everything with their own staff—504 coordinators, diagnosticians, LPAC, etc.
5. TestHound’s reports (like the Master Accommodations Report and the Room Accommodations Report) pull it all together—clear, accurate, and ready to go.

With that setup, everyone’s on the same page. The cooks are finally using the same recipe. That’s what TestHound gives you.

When It’s All Manual? That’s When Mistakes Happen

Now let’s talk about what happens without a system like this in place.

If you're trying to track accommodations by hand—with spreadsheets, paper folders, and back-and-forth emails—there are just too many chances for something to slip through. Maybe a kid gets an accommodation they shouldn't have. Or worse, they don't get one they’re entitled to.

Both are considered testing irregularities. And in Texas, that means paperwork, reports to the state, and formal plans to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Best-case scenario? It’s a headache. Worst case? It’s a full-blown investigation that drags out for months and ties up your time, your staff, and your summer.

I've been there. I had one serious irregularity hit in March, and I wasn’t cleared until July. That’s four months of stress for something that probably could’ve been avoided with the right system in place.

And let’s be real—most folks doing this work aren’t making mistakes because they don’t care. They’re just overwhelmed. If you're relying on people to manually input, verify, and cross-check all this information across multiple systems, you're setting them up to fail. Automation isn’t a luxury. It’s a lifeline.

I Wouldn’t Do the Job Without It

Before I came to Education Advanced, I was the guy managing this process on the district side. And I’ll be honest—I wouldn’t take a district testing coordinator job without TestHound. I just wouldn’t.

Trying to keep up with spreadsheets from different departments, double-entering data, hoping everything lines up… it’s exhausting. And mistakes happen. Not because people don’t care, but because it’s too easy to miss something when there’s no central system.

I used TestHound reports like the Room Accommodations Report as part of our five-year documentation. That way, we had everything in writing—who got what, where, and when. It saved us more times than I can count.

One district we work with had close to 7,000 variations of accommodations in their system. After cleaning things up, they narrowed it down to about 40 that really mattered. That’s the kind of clarity we’re talking about.

Still on the Fence?

If you’re wondering whether TestHound is worth it, ask yourself this: how many spreadsheets are you juggling? How many cooks are in your kitchen? And how many late nights are you spending trying to make sense of it all?

With so many players involved—and so much riding on getting accommodations right—you need something that brings order to the chaos. TestHound does that. It pulls all the pieces together, translates them into a common language, and makes sure every kid gets what they need.

At the end of the day, it’s not just about convenience—it’s about protecting your team, your students, and your peace of mind. And that’s not something I’m willing to compromise.  

I hope you’re not either.