Assessments for ELLs Read Chapter 7.5 of your textbook, “Issues of Assessments for ELLs.” While academic standards and proficiency can be assessed through formal tests and assessments for all students, English language learners need additional assessment opportunities in order for teachers to assess their language proficiency skills. Watch the webcast, Assessment of English Language Learners http://www.colorincolorado.org/webcast/assessment-english-language-learners, featuring Dr. Lorraine Valdez Pierce. There is also a PowerPoint presentation to accompany this video that may be beneficial (located directly below the video link). After watching the video and reading the chapter, respond to the following questions: How can current assessments (such as standardized testing) be biased against students who are not native speakers of English? Suppose you were teaching a unit on the water cycle. The unit focused on teaching the students the parts of the water cycle which include: precipitation, evaporation, and condensation. Describe one way that you may evaluate your ELLs using a formative and a performance-based assessment in the classroom based on this lesson topic and how these assessments can provide greater opportunities for ELLs to show their acquired knowledge with minimal interference due to a language barrier. Also, explain how your formative assessment can be used to guide your instruction while teaching the unit. Be specific. Look at Table 7.2: TESOL Language Proficiency Standards in your text and describe how these assessments align with Standard 4. Provide at least two reasons. 7.5 Issues of Assessments for ELLs In many ways, language proficiency standards work hand in hand with assessments to help ELL teachers measure student progress. However, student assessment has been a complex and often controversial topic in education: Required assessments may carry a lot of weight and could result in long-lasting impacts on students' lives. Sandberg and Reschly (2011) noted that the purpose of assessment is to provide information that may be used to describe performance and make decisions about students—students meeting standards, those at risk for later failure, those who qualify for talented and gifted education programs, and so forth. (p. 145) It is thus important that assessments be fair, equitable, valid, reliable, and appropriate. As Staehr Fenner (2013) and Hauck, Wolf, and Mislevy (2013) noted, there are critical reasons for this when it comes to ELLs: First, valid and reliable assessment measures ensure educators correctly identify, classify, place, and reclassify ELLs based on their language proficiency levels. Second, meaningful and accurate assessment data ensure effective instruction. With such data, both general education and ESL/ELD teachers can plan more effective lessons, differentiate instruction more successfully, and integrate content and language development opportunities. Finally, accurate data help hold schools, di.

1. Assessments for ELLs
Read Chapter 7.5 of your textbook, “Issues of Assessments for
ELLs.” While academic standards and proficiency can be
assessed through formal tests and assessments for all students,
English language learners need additional assessment
opportunities in order for teachers to assess their language
proficiency skills. Watch the webcast, Assessment of English
Language Learners
http://www.colorincolorado.org/webcast/assessment-english-
language-learners, featuring Dr. Lorraine Valdez Pierce. There
is also a PowerPoint presentation to accompany this video that
may be beneficial (located directly below the video link). After
watching the video and reading the chapter, respond to the
following questions:
How can current assessments (such as standardized testing) be
biased against students who are not native speakers of English?
Suppose you were teaching a unit on the water cycle. The unit
focused on teaching the students the parts of the water cycle
which include: precipitation, evaporation, and condensation.
Describe one way that you may evaluate your ELLs using a
formative and a performance-based assessment in the classroom
based on this lesson topic and how these assessments can
provide greater opportunities for ELLs to show their acquired
knowledge with minimal interference due to a language barrier.
Also, explain how your formative assessment can be used to
guide your instruction while teaching the unit. Be specific.
Look at Table 7.2: TESOL Language Proficiency Standards in
your text and describe how these assessments align with
Standard 4. Provide at least two reasons.
7.5 Issues of Assessments for ELLs
In many ways, language proficiency standards work hand in

2. hand with assessments to help ELL teachers measure student
progress. However, student assessment has been a complex and
often controversial topic in education: Required assessments
may carry a lot of weight and could result in long-lasting
impacts on students' lives. Sandberg and Reschly (2011) noted
that
the purpose of assessment is to provide information that may be
used to describe performance and make decisions about
students—students meeting standards, those at risk for later
failure, those who qualify for talented and gifted education
programs, and so forth. (p. 145)
It is thus important that assessments be fair, equitable, valid,
reliable, and appropriate. As Staehr Fenner (2013) and Hauck,
Wolf, and Mislevy (2013) noted, there are critical reasons for
this when it comes to ELLs: First, valid and reliable assessment
measures ensure educators correctly identify, classify, place,
and reclassify ELLs based on their language proficiency levels.
Second, meaningful and accurate assessment data ensure
effective instruction. With such data, both general education
and ESL/ELD teachers can plan more effective lessons,
differentiate instruction more successfully, and integrate
content and language development opportunities. Finally,
accurate data help hold schools, districts, and states accountable
for ELLs' development.
For ELLs in particular, assessment practices are multifaceted
and can be overwhelming or confusing. O'Malley and Valdez
Pierce (1996) identified six overarching purposes for assessing
ELLs:
to identify ELLs
to place ELLs in appropriate language support programs
to reclassify ELLs or move them out of language support
programs

3. to monitor ELLs' progress
to evaluate ESL/ELD programs
to provide data for accountability measures
Most ESL teachers use assessments to accomplish most or all of
these goals; some of the listed purposes might be a teacher's
primary responsibility, whereas others might be special
assignments or a shared responsibility within the department.
Types of Assessment
Assessments for ELLs generally fall into two categories: (1)
standardized assessments and (2) classroom assessments.
Standardized English Language Proficiency Assessments
The first use of a standardized assessment is in identifying
ELLs. In most states, home language surveys or home language
questionnaires are used to gather data on what language(s) are
spoken in the child's home. Based on the information—whether
a language other than English has been identified—some states
require an interview to confirm the need for standardized
English language proficiency tests, the purpose of which is
twofold: (1) to establish whether the child is eligible to receive
language support services and (2) to determine what level of
instruction would be most appropriate. TESOL's five levels of
language proficiency, discussed earlier in this chapter, provide
critical information so the child can be placed in the best
possible locally available program.
A broken pencil on top of a multiple choice Scantron test.
michaelquirk/iStock/Thinkstock
Standardized assessments are part of the fabric of education;
they tend to be challenging for all students, and even more so
for English language learners.
If a standardized English language proficiency test is indeed
needed, there are several different tests currently available. The

4. WIDA-ACCESS Placement Test (W-APT) is one example. W-
APT results guide educators regarding some critical decisions,
such as identification and placement of ELLs. The W-APT is
one component of WIDA's comprehensive assessment system
(see more at www.wida.us). Other states that belong to the
ELPA21 consortium (discussed earlier in this chapter) utilize
the assessment measures developed for participating states only.
In non-WIDA or non-ELPA21 member states, locally developed
standardized tests are used for identification and placement
purposes, such as the NYSITELL in New York. In some states,
school officials also administer additional language surveys and
review prior school records such as transcripts to make a more
informed decision about student placement (Gottlieb, 2006).
Standardized language proficiency tests are also used annually
to document student progress and program accountability. In
WIDA member states, the ACCESS for ELLs (Assessing
Comprehension and Communication in English State-to-State
for English Language Learners) is utilized as the standardized
English language proficiency assessment in kindergarten
through 12th grade. English language learners take this test
annually in WIDA Consortium member states. Test results help
monitor ELLs' progress in acquiring academic English and
provide data for accountability purposes. In non-WIDA member
states, tests similar to the ACCESS have been developed.
ELPA21 assessments are used in the ELPA member states. In
California, the California English Language Development Test
(CELDT) is the state-mandated assessment given each year, and
in New York, the annual test to measure progress is called
NYSESLAT.
Finally, most states use the results of the progress-monitoring
standardized English language proficiency tests to determine
whether English language development (ELD) or English as a
second language (ESL) services are no longer necessary.
Arizona is one exception. Arizona uses the results from its state

5. and federally approved standards-based assessment tool—the
Arizona English Language Learner Assessment (AZELLA)—for
both placement and reclassification purposes (see
http://www.azed.gov/assessment/azella/). Student portfolios or
teacher recommendations based on classroom assessments and
other data (e.g., GPAs) could also be helpful in making an
accurate decision regarding whether an ELL needs further
language services (Gottlieb, 2006).
Classroom-Based Formative and Summative Assessments
During much of the academic year, the main assessment task
teachers tend to undertake is to monitor student progress, for
both language development and academic attainment. This often
involves using a combination of formative and summative
assessments in the classroom.
Formative assessments are designed to monitor student
performance on an ongoing basis. Teachers use the data
collected from these assessments to plan their next lessons and
immediately address areas that may need additional work.
Fisher and Frey (2007) made a compelling case for checking for
understanding and conducting frequent formative assessments
that help decide next steps in instruction, including setting new
learning objectives, deciding what needs to be pre-taught or
retaught, and determining which task would need to be
differentiated. Formative assessments happen daily in the
classroom, both formally and informally, such as through the
use of teacher observations (anecdotal notes on student
behavior), student logs and journal entries (revealing student
language use in a non-threatening format), and exit cards (short,
written responses to prompts or student summaries of what they
learned during the lesson). The New York State Education
Department (NYSED) (2004) recommended conferencing with
students and keeping an

6. anecdotal record of observations of each child's speaking,
listening, reading, and writing behavior. The record may be
used for parent conferences and shared with the student. It
shows the student's strengths and helps the teacher develop
appropriate strategies to further improve performance. (p. 31)
Formative assessments are closely tied to daily instructional
practices, so any learning activity can be used as a formative
assessment tool: a KWL chart (What I Know, What I Want to
Learn, and What I Have Learned), students' written work
samples, learning log and diary entries, a completed graphic
organizer, and so on.
In contrast, summative assessments are administered at the end
of a unit of study to measure how well students have mastered
the curriculum and met the unit goals. The information derived
from these assessments can help teachers determine how best to
plan lessons and activities to maximize student learning in
future courses. Some teachers use more traditional tools such as
paper and pencil tests with multiple choice questions, true and
false questions, and essay prompts. Others prefer performance-
based assessment measures that most typically include a
project: Students have to develop or create something through
which they demonstrate that they have reached the goals of the
entire unit. For example, at the completion of a unit on energy,
10th graders may generate a community outreach plan on how to
reduce waste in homes and businesses and how to make the
community more energy efficient.
Among others, Gottlieb (2006), Guskey and Jung (2013), Jung
and Guskey (2012), and Staehr Fenner (2013) have
recommended a multiple-measure assessment system to be
established that includes a combination of carefully crafted
formative and summative assessments. This system is
implemented over the course of a certain period of time. The
alternative is to use a single test (a summative assessment) at

7. the end of the unit or the end of the marking period to determine
whether students have mastered the content and made progress
toward language proficiency.
Gottlieb (2006) suggested that classroom assessments must
reflect not only the target content but also the language(s) of
instruction. According to her recommendations, both the formal
and informal assessments used in the classroom should measure
the degree to which students have mastered the content and the
language necessary for communicating the ideas associated with
the lesson. She promoted the use of student portfolios
(collections of student work samples) and self- or peer
assessments (checklists or rubrics that the students complete
about their own work or each other's performances) as ways to
assess ELLs fairly and comprehensively—as opposed to relying
on a single, traditional, paper-and-pencil summative assessment.
The most desirable assessment practices address both content
and language development, with the types of accommodations
that are most conducive to the students' language proficiency
level.
Implementing Fair and Equitable Assessment Practices for ELLs
Schools need a collaboratively developed, fair, and equitable
class and school grading and reporting system that has a clear
purpose, aligns to standards, and is supported by the most
current research (Guskey, 2014). To ensure that all stakeholders
can celebrate successes without losing touch with what is
expected of students at a particular grade level or content area,
make sure you include measures to report both student growth
in language development and academic attainment as well as
core content achievement in relation to grade-level standards
and benchmarks.

8. TESOL Standards
As noted in Chapter 1, TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers
of Other Languages) is an international organization that serves
as a professional body to support teachers by disseminating
critical information and publishing instructional resources.
TESOL responded to the standards movement by forming a task
force that would work on developing a common framework,
publishing the first national PreK–12 English Language
Proficiency Standards in 1997. This first edition of language
proficiency standards was organized around three broad-based
goals: to teach students how to use English (1) to communicate
in social settings, (2) to achieve academically in all content
areas, and (3) in socially and culturally appropriate ways
(TESOL, 2006).
It is important to note that these ESL standards did not
emphasize academic language proficiency across the content
areas, and the WIDA Consortium sought to address this
oversight with its own set of standards in 2002 (discussed later
in this section). In response, TESOL revised its standards in
2006 (see Table 7.2). The new standards, intended for all preK–
12 ELLs, specified that "English language learners
communicate for social, intercultural, and instructional
purposes within the school setting" and that they "communicate
information, ideas, and concepts necessary for academic
success" in the subjects of language arts, math, science, and
social studies (TESOL, 2006, para. 3–7).
Table 7.2: TESOL's 2006 language proficiency standards
Standard 1 English language learners communicate for
social, intercultural, and instructional purposes within the
school setting.
Standard 2 English language learners communicate

9. information, ideas, and concepts necessary for academic success
in the area of language arts.
Standard 3 English language learners communicate
information, ideas, and concepts necessary for academic success
in the area of mathematics.
Standard 4 English language learners communicate
information, ideas, and concepts necessary for academic success
in the area of science.
Standard 5 English language learners communicate
information, ideas, and concepts necessary for academic success
in the area of social studies.
Source: From TESOL Pre-K–12 English Language Proficiency
Standards Framework. Copyright © 2015 TESOL International
Association. Reprinted by permission.
Note that while the first TESOL standard focuses on social
language, which can be used both inside and outside the school
context, the last four standards (one for each subject area)
emphasize the development of academic language across the
core content areas. As we will discuss in this chapter,
supporting academic language development is a critical task for
ELL teachers.