External Reviews and Operational Assessments

Overview and Expectations

Each year, Disability Resource Offices are under increasing pressure to do more, all while facing an increase in the total number and individual complexities of student accommodation requests, expanded campus expectations, and evolving regulatory scrutiny. Yet many institutions rarely have the time or internal capacity to step back and fully evaluate how their office is operating. Procedures, policies, staffing structures, and systems may be 10 or more years old, reflecting outdated realities and expectations.

That’s where an external and highly experienced perspective becomes invaluable.

EdPros partners with institutions to conduct comprehensive, objective reviews of disability and accessibility operations. Our goal is to provide clear, actionable and unbiased insights that help offices operate more effectively, align with current best practices, and prepare for what’s ahead.

Our Experts bring deep experience across institutional types and models, helping institutions:

  • Evaluate current policies, procedures, and documentation practices

  • Assess alignment with ADA, Section 504, and emerging regulatory expectations

  • Review staffing structures, caseload distribution, and operational workflows

  • Identify risks, gaps, and areas of inconsistency in service delivery

  • Provide actionable, prioritized recommendations for improvement and growth

The result: a clearer understanding of your current state and a practical roadmap for where to go next.

  • Objective and independent

    Every reviewer is external to the institution; no internal bias, no blind spots.

  • Actionable findings

    Recommendations are prioritized and practical for teams to implement.

  • Carries institutional weight

    Findings from a seasoned Expert holds more credibility with leadership than a generalist consultant's report.

EdPros In Action

  • The Institution's Challenge

    A mid-sized private institution began to feel the strain of rapid growth within its Disability Resource office. Over a 5 year span, student demand for accommodations had increased by 120%, while staffing, processes, and systems remained largely unchanged.

    Compounding this, the office had recently navigated a series of student complaints in the previous year, including an OCR investigation. While the team and institution worked diligently to respond, the experience raised important internal questions about consistency, documentation philosophies, and overall alignment with prevailing trends and practices in the field.

    Leadership had growing concerns around inconsistent accommodation determinations, uneven student experiences, and uncertainty around whether current practices were fully aligned with evolving legal expectations. At the same time, the team was fully consumed with day-to-day operations. There was little time, capacity, or energy to step back, assess, and make informed changes from within.

    The institution needed an experienced, objective partner to take a comprehensive and realistic look at their operation without disrupting the services students relied on every day.

  • The EdPros Partnership

    EdPros partnered with institutional leadership to conduct a full external review of the  Disability Resource Office over the course of 8 weeks.

    Our Expert engaged across multiple levels of the institution, including staff, campus partners, and senior leadership, to build a complete picture of how the office was functioning.

    Throughout the engagement, our team:

    • Conducted interviews with staff and key campus stakeholders

    • Reviewed policies, procedures, and accommodation documentation practices

    • Analyzed caseload distribution, workflows, and service delivery models

    • Assessed alignment with current legal guidance and best practices

    • Identified both immediate risks and longer-term opportunities for growth

  • The Impact

    The institution received a comprehensive, objective assessment of its current operations grounded in both regulatory understanding and real-world practice.

    More importantly, the findings were not theoretical. They reflected the lived experience of staff and students, providing leadership with a clear and credible picture of what was working and where change was needed.

  • Sustained Support

    EdPros delivered a detailed report and presentation with prioritized, actionable recommendations ranging from immediate operational adjustments to longer-term strategic improvements.

    Following the review, the institution partnered with EdPros to begin implementing key recommendations, ensuring momentum wasn’t lost and that changes translated into meaningful improvements in practice.

  • The Result

    Institutional leadership gained confidence in their understanding of risk and opportunity and staff felt heard and supported through the process. The office was positioned to move from reactive operations to a more intentional, sustainable model for the future.

What our partners say

  • “Our university partnered with EdPros for about 12 weeks to support our assistive technology, textbooks in alternate format and course accessibility-related needs. Having the EdPros team and Expert provided so much comfort to our office, students, and the university. We are grateful for the expertise, energy, and commitment the EdPros Expert provided to our university.”

    Ashlee Ladbury

    Director, Office of Accessible Education - UMASS Global

  • “Working with EdPro’s has been a wonderful experience for Oregon State. From the beginning phases of determining our needs, creating our contracts, and to working directly with our Experts, we have experienced timely discussions, easy-to-understand guidance, and friendly service with the EdPro’s team.

    Our Case Management Expert assisted our office in providing just over 200 orientations to students during our first three weeks of Fall term. The peace of mind having an expert that was able to join us on our fast-paced journey really helped keep our team morale on the positive side! The partnership with our Document Remediation Expert was so valuable for our alternative formats team. Our Expert completed accessible documents in a time when our office was severely short-handed, taking on over 130 hours of work that aided our office in meeting the needs of our blind and low-vision students.

    This partnership with EdPro’s is one that we highly value and look forward to finding ways to continue working together as needs arise.”

    Earlee Kerekes-Mishra

    Assistant Director, Disability Access Services - Oregon State University

  • “In line with industry trends, our office has experienced a significant surge in students seeking disability accommodations. Engaging with EdPros experts has enabled us to effectively manage this heightened demand, particularly amidst staffing shortages, thus preventing staff burnout, and bolstering employee retention rates. Although our staffing levels fluctuated we were able to maintain stable wait times for student meetings.“

    Charnessa Warren

    Director, Student Disability Services - The University of Chicago

  • “Connections like this were exactly what we had in mind," because [we] have marveled, first of all at the existence of such a company that seems tailor-made for our situation and needs, and secondly at the perfect match you assigned in [the assigned Expert]. She is the perfect teammate for our needs, circumstances, and preferred way of being or vibe or however one wishes to name it. Perhaps you sensed not just the skill set but also the personality that would be the best match for us based on our introductory Zoom call. Remarkable.”

    Richard Middleton-Kaplan

    Director, Academic Support Services - Whitman College

  • “I am 100% Satisfied with EdPros support. We worked with a team of two highly qualified, seasoned professionals who were able to help our institution navigate the complexities of the accommodation process at a time when we had limited staffing resources, with minimal onboarding. Both professionals were familiar with our data management system, which as a bonus. The EdPros professionals’ input on our departmental processes was invaluable as we needed fresh perspectives from practitioners with experience outside of our intuition to contribute to our department’s growth and development.  I would happily work with EdPros again and I highly recommend the company.”

    Assistant Dean for Accessibility and ADA/504 Coordinator - Ohio University

  • “Our department was fortunate to receive a donor gift this year to help formulate a comprehensive program around Executive Functioning Skills Development. Because our team did not have the in-house capacity to take on this task, we sought out EdPros to assist us with this endeavor. Over this past academic year, we have been working closely with an EdPros Expert assigned to our project. This working relationship has exceeded our expectations and we are very excited to roll out the first elements of this program this upcoming year. With every meeting, our EdPros Expect comes to the table prepared, fully engaged, open to our input and feedback, and committed to delivering quality work. We are nearing the end of our first year, in a multi-year agreement with EdPros and could not be happier. We never would have been able to achieve and accomplish all that has been done thus far without working with our EdPros Expert."

    Harry R. Knabe

    Director, Disability Support Services - The Catholic University of America)