ESL Assessment K-12

Janet L. Pierce, Ph.D.ESL Teacher, ELL Coordinator

Franklin Regional School District

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Background

Why assessment for ESL-

State and federal requirement- based on information in the student’s record- Home Language Survey, if a student speaks more than one language at home they must be screened to check English proficiency

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Basic Education Circulars (BECS)

Educating Students With Limited English Proficiency (LEP) and English Language Learners (ELL)

22 Pa. Code §4.26 DATE OF ISSUE:  July 1, 2001The school district/charter school must administer a home language survey (HLS) to all students as required by the Office for Civil Rights (OCR). The results of that survey must be retained in the student's permanent folder. For those students whose primary language is other than English (PHLOTE), the district must also determine the student's English language proficiency. Then, ESL instruction at the appropriate level must be provided for the limited English proficient student with local/state funds.

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More reasons why we assess

It helps instruction- you can adapt instruction based on the English level needs of the students considered ELLs

You exit ELLs according to stringent state requirements

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Exit Criteria

In order to meet the required state exit criteria for Pennsylvania's English language instructional programs for ELLs, LEAs (ex. Franklin Regional School District) must use both of the required exit criteria listed below. In addition, LEAs (Franklin Regional School District) must ensure that students meet one of the two additional exit criteria provided below to exit from an English language instructional program:

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Required Exit Criteria:

Score of Basic on the annual Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA).

SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES: * For students transferring from other states, out-of-state

academic achievement assessment results may be considered when the academic proficiency level is comparable to Basic on the PSSA. * For students that are in a grade that is not assessed with the PSSA, LEA's must use each of the remaining criteria listed below to exit students.

Score of Proficient (Bridging as per the Pennsylvania Language Proficiency Standards for English Language Learners) in the areas of Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing on the annual state English language proficiency assessment. The Proficient (Bridging) score will be based on the total composite assessment results of all 4 learning domains on the state test.

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Additional Exit Criteria:

Final grades of C or better in core subject

areas (Mathematics, Language Arts,

Science and Social Studies).

Scores on district-wide assessments that

are comparable to the Basic performance

level on the PSSA.

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The state test is the ACCESS for ELLs. Test results must be taken from (c) tier assignment and proficiency score requirements for exit from Englishlanguage instructional programs:

Composite Proficiency ScoresACCESS proficiency scores, as presented on the teacher report, consist of a whole number followed by a decimal. The whole number indicates the student's proficiency level (1.0 = Entering, 5.0 = Bridging). The decimal, ranging from 1-9, represents the progress within the

proficiency level that the student achieved. For example, 4.0 is the lowest score in the Expanding proficiency level, while 4.9 is the highest score before a student progresses into the Bridging

proficiency level.

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ACCESS Tiers and scoring caps

The ACCESS assessment is broken into three tiers (A, B or C) at each grade level cluster.

Scores for the Tier A assessments are capped at 4.0.

Scores for the Tier B assessments are capped at 5.0.

The Tier C assessment is the only assessment on which a student can achieve a score from 1.0 to 6.0.

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ACCESS criteria for exit

For the 2006-2007 school year, a student with a composite score of 5.0 on a Tier B assessment or 5.0 or higher on a Tier C assessment may be exited after meeting the other PA exit criteria previously described.For subsequent years, only scores above 5.0 on a Tier C assessment will be acceptable for exit.

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Kindergarten

The maximum overall composite language proficiency score that a student taking the Kindergarten form of ACCESS can receive is 3.7. To be considered for exit, a kindergarten student must, at a minimum:

* have an oral language score of 3.8. * have a composite proficiency score of 2.7.

Beginning in the 2007-2008 school year, the ACCESS kindergarten assessment score range will be 1.0 to 6.0 and the same exit criteria as all other grade level clusters will apply.

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IDEA Language Proficiency Tests (IPT) - English

The IDEA Proficiency Tests were designed to evaluate proficiency in English for children from the age of 3 years through the 12th grade. The Reading/Writing test may be given independently of the Oral test, but both tests would be needed for an overall assessment of language ability. The Oral Proficiency tests of English were designed to determine the proficiency level of students who are native speakers of other languages and who are being considered for placement in Limited English Proficient programs. These tests are administered individually using an easel-style book with pictures which correspond to test questions. The domains tested are Syntax, Morphological Structure, Lexical Items, Phonological Structure, Comprehension, and Oral Production.

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More about the IPT

Examinees continue progressing through levels of difficulty until they reach their proficiency ceiling. The resulting classifications are Non-, Limited, or Fluent English-Speaking. There are three levels of the Oral tests: The Pre-IPT (ages 3-5); The IPT 1 (K-6); and the IPT 2 (grades 7-12). The Pre-IPT has a Spanish version which should be used to assess the oral Spanish language proficiency of pre-school children whose first language is Spanish. The Reading and Writing tests in English are used to assess the reading and writing skills of children with other native languages for placement purposes.

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The IPT continued

These Reading tests include multiple-choice items in several domains: 1) Vocabulary, in which one of four words is chosen to describe a picture, 2) Vocabulary in Context, in which one of four words is chosen to complete a sentence, 3) Reading and Understanding, in which a prose passage is followed by related comprehension questions like those in Vocabulary in Context, 4) Reading for Life Skills, which has the same format as Reading and Understanding, but uses product labels, street signs, and popular print , and 5) Language Usage which emphasizes grammar and punctuation used in writing. Scoring may be done by hand or by machine.

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The IPT continued

The Writing tests have three sections: 1) Conventions, in which a multiple-choice sentence completion task tests knowledge in writing conventions like capitalization, punctuation, and abbreviations, 2) Write a Story, in which the examinee writes a few sentences to describe a picture story, and 3) Write Your Own Story, in which the examinee writes a brief argumentative essay or a short narrative paragraph, depending on the level.

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Levels of the IPT

Examinees taking both the Reading and the Writing test may be given either the Language Usage portion of the Reading test or the Conventions portion of the Writing test, but not both. The Reading/Writing tests have three levels: The IPT 1 (grades 2,3), the IPT 2 (grades 4-6), and the IPT 3 (grades 7-12). Scoring of the writing samples is done using a set of rubrics and examples of student writing for each level of scoring. Norming studies and estimates of reliability and validity are available for all of the tests.

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But what about the State test?

The Pennsylvania Department of Education has the W-APT for entry/screening for students OR districts may use other tests for entry/screening purposes.Once students are in the ESL program, they can only exit using the state test, the ACCESS test and other criteria.

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ACCESS as exit tool

NOW PDE has adopted the ACCESS test as the exit/screening tool for ELL progress.

It is given mid-year. Check out this site.

http://www.wida.us/assessment/ACCESS.aspx

You may wonder what tests will work best as a screening tool for your district? Create an evaluation checklist to help you decide.

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To evaluate Assessment tools

It is important to create a checklist to assist with the selection of an English language proficiency test. The items on the checklist should parallel the categories used to describe each test. Information about the test purpose, its method of administration, the cost, the time it takes to administer the test and so forth should be considered and rated for each of the 4 language modalities (listening, speaking, reading, and writing). Be sure to make a column for an overall rating as well. This checklist can be used for rating any language proficiency test or assessment. Some tests will not assess all 4 language modalities in which case you will check rate only the modality columns on the checklist appropriate for that test. Use the checklist as you review the "examination" kit for any test. Most test publishers will allow a 30 day examination period free of charge. Simply contact the publisher and ask them for a test examination kit.

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Are there other assessments?YES! Teacher created regular assessments such as quizzes, tests, projects based on rubricsTextbook assessmentsGrades, progress reportsProvide multiple ways to assess in line with student strengths and rubrics to help student know what is expected of them along the way.Check out this site for a multitude of tests and information on assessments: http://www.nifl.gov/readingprofiles/index.htm

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ESL Assessment for K-12

Complex

Essential

Creative

Varied

Authentic