Assessment of English Language Learners in the Era of New Academic Content Standards

Title III of Public Law 107-110 (No Child Left Behind; NCLB) provided for creation of assessments of English language learners (ELLs) and established, through the Enhanced Assessment Grant program, a platform from which four consortia of states developed ELL tests aligned to rigorous statewide content standards. Those four tests (ACCESS for ELLs, CELLA, ELDA, and MWA) are now in use in one or more states, along with a host of other commercially available or locally developed tests. The tests (those developed by consortia as well as the others) are quite similar in many ways, principally in their contents: Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing. Most measure these domains with a combination of multiple-choice (MC) and open-ended (OE) test items. This article provides an overview to the four consortium-developed tests as well as an in-depth analysis of one representative example. It also provides a summary of the characteristics of four commercially available tests. Not surprisingly, the four commercially available tests are rather similar to one another and to the consortium-developed tests in terms of content, psychometric characteristics, and development. The primary difference between the two sets is that the commercially available tests tend to report percentile ranks as well as proficiency levels. Now that the Race to the Top program is in place, we face many of the same challenges we faced a decade ago when NCLB was passed. While the Enhanced Assessment Grant competition emphasized summative assessment, the latest competition emphasizes formative assessment, which gives rise to the hope that educators can not only discover students’ strengths and weaknesses with these new tests, but do so in a timely manner and have opportunities to use the information constructively. Current work by at least one organization is encouraging in this regard.

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Using E-Books to Acquire Foundational Academic Vocabulary

Intervention in School and Clinic ◽

10.1177/1053451217693368 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 53 (2) ◽

pp. 88-93 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Matthew L. Love ◽

Tracy G. Spies ◽

Joseph J. Morgan

Keyword(s):

English Language Learners ◽

Secondary Students ◽

Language Learners ◽

English Language ◽

Content Area ◽

Content Standards ◽

Academic Vocabulary ◽

Academic Challenges ◽

Language Needs ◽

Based Instruction

Secondary students identified as English language learners or with learning disabilities present diverse vocabulary and academic challenges related to their exceptional language needs. Limited academic vocabulary may hinder students in accessing academic content and serve as a barrier to achievement. The literature has documented the use of multimedia-delivered instruction as a support in the development of content area academic vocabulary. One such tool, electronic books (i.e., e-books), can be an effective multimedia resource used to supplement standards-based instruction and preteach content area vocabulary specifically designed for students with exceptional language needs. This article describes methods for analyzing content standards and developing differentiated e-books to preteach academic vocabulary to support students with exceptional language needs in acquiring foundational academic vocabulary. The selection and use of specific tools based on students’ academic and linguistic needs will also be illustrated.

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Equity for English Language Learners in the Mathematics Classroom

Teaching Children Mathematics ◽

10.5951/tcm.15.3.0185 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 15 (3) ◽

pp. 185-191

Author(s):

Gina M. Borgioli

Keyword(s):

English Language Learners ◽

Interpersonal Communication ◽

Language Learners ◽

English Language ◽

Mathematics Classroom ◽

Academic Tasks ◽

English Only ◽

Text Reading ◽

English Speaking ◽

Academic Content

Although English Language Learners (ELLs) quickly acquire basic interpersonal communication skills, most struggle for several years with reading and writing academic content in English (Cummins 1981). In particular, in English-only mathematics classes, children are likely to have difficulty reading and comprehending text, reading word problems, and giving written or oral justifications of their problem-solving strategies in English (Clarkson and Galbrath 1992; Cuevas 1984; Cummins 1984; Moschkovich 2000; Ron 1999). A language barrier should not be mistaken for a learning problem or a deficit. English-speaking peers of ELLs should also avoid assigning them lower social and academic status because of nonnative language skills and perceived inability to perform well on social and academic tasks (Cohen et al. 2004).

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Differentiating Instruction for Young English Language Learners in the Content Areas

Advances in Early Childhood and K-12 Education - Handbook of Research on Pedagogies and Cultural Considerations for Young English Language Learners ◽

10.4018/978-1-5225-3955-1.ch005 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 90-110

Author(s):

Kristen M. Lindahl

Keyword(s):

English Language Learners ◽

Public Schools ◽

Differentiated Instruction ◽

Language Learners ◽

English Language ◽

Content Areas ◽

Differentiating Instruction ◽

Academic Settings ◽

K 12 ◽

Academic Content

This chapter explores the practice of differentiating instruction for young English Language Learners (ELLs) in the academic content areas. While ELLs are the most rapidly growing demographic in US K-12 public schools, they are also the most diverse, and will thus benefit from dynamic instruction that meets their needs to provide challenge, success, and fit. Based upon earlier applications of differentiated instruction (such as those in Tomlinson, 1999), this chapter proffers four examples of differentiated activities for young ELLs in math, science, social studies, and language arts. It then extends traditional implementation of differentiated instruction to include students' funds of knowledge and their linguistic repertoire, thereby providing teachers of young ELLs more holistic means to extend student engagement with the content and the type of language favored in academic settings.

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Oral translation as a test accommodation for ELLs

Language Testing ◽

10.1177/0265532211404191 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 28 (3) ◽

pp. 401-416 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Charles W. Stansfield

Keyword(s):

English Language Learners ◽

No Child Left Behind ◽

Language Learners ◽

Adequate Yearly Progress ◽

English Language ◽

Content Standards ◽

Elementary And Secondary Education ◽

Left Behind ◽

Us Government ◽

Education Act

The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act (US Government, 2001), the current iteration of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, makes it clear that states, districts, schools and teachers are accountable for the education of English language learners (ELLs), as well as all other students. To implement an accountability system, NCLB requires states to create content standards (a set of curricular goals and objectives) for English language arts, mathematics, and science. They must also develop and administer assessments that measure student progress toward mastery of these content standards. Finally, states, districts, and schools must demonstrate that they are making adequate yearly progress toward bringing all students to a previously established level of mastery of these standards (called Proficient) with the goal that by the year 2014 all students will achieve this level.

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Young Spanish-English Language Learners' Cognate Facilitation on Picture Naming

Contemporary Issues in Communication Science and Disorders ◽

10.1044/cicsd_43_s_115 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 43 (Spring) ◽

pp. 115-128 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Lindsey Leacox ◽

Carla Wood ◽

Gretchen Sunderman ◽

Christopher Schatschneider

Keyword(s):

English Language Learners ◽

Language Learners ◽

Picture Naming ◽

English Language

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Assessment 360°: A Panoramic Framework for Assessing English Language Learners

Perspectives on Communication Disorders and Sciences in Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Populations ◽

10.1044/cds17.2.37 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 17 (2) ◽

pp. 37-56 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Nancy Lewis ◽

Nancy Castilleja ◽

Barbara J. Moore ◽

Barbara Rodriguez

Keyword(s):

English Language Learners ◽

Language Learners ◽

English Language ◽

Linguistically Diverse ◽

Assessment Process ◽

Assessment Practices ◽

Her Family ◽

Diverse Student ◽

Many Sources

This issue describes the Assessment 360° process, which takes a panoramic approach to the language assessment process with school-age English Language Learners (ELLs). The Assessment 360° process guides clinicians to obtain information from many sources when gathering information about the child and his or her family. To illustrate the process, a bilingual fourth grade student whose native language (L1) is Spanish and who has been referred for a comprehensive language evaluation is presented. This case study features the assessment issues typically encountered by speech-language pathologists and introduces assessment through a panoramic lens. Recommendations specific to the case study are presented along with clinical implications for assessment practices with culturally and linguistically diverse student populations.

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Pre-Referral Procedures: Meeting Unique Needs of English Language Learners

Perspectives on Communication Disorders and Sciences in Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Populations ◽

10.1044/cds8.1.4 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

pp. 4-6 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Vera Joanna Burton ◽

Betsy Wendt

Keyword(s):

English Language Learners ◽

Language Learners ◽

School System ◽

English Language ◽

First Language ◽

The United States ◽

Public School System ◽

Language Difference ◽

Number Of Children ◽

School Team

An increasingly large number of children receiving education in the United States public school system do not speak English as their first language. As educators adjust to the changing educational demographics, speech-language pathologists will be called on with increasing frequency to address concerns regarding language difference and language disorders. This paper illustrates the pre-referral assessment-to-intervention processes and products designed by one school team to meet the unique needs of English Language Learners (ELL).

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Children's Nonword Repetition Tasks and English Language Learners

Perspectives on School-Based Issues ◽

10.1044/sbi11.3.73 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 11 (3) ◽

pp. 73-79

Author(s):

Sara C. Steele ◽

Deborah A. Hwa-Froelich

Keyword(s):

English Language Learners ◽

Language Learners ◽

Language Impairment ◽

English Language ◽

Nonword Repetition ◽

Adopted Children ◽

Typically Developing ◽

Bilingual Speakers ◽

Internationally Adopted Children ◽

English Speaking

Nonword repetition performance has been shown to differentiate monolingual English-speaking children with language impairment (LI) from typically developing children. These tasks have been administered to monolingual speakers of different languages and to simultaneous and sequential bilingual English Language Learners (ELLs) with mixed results. This article includes a review of the nonword repetition performance of monolingual and bilingual speakers and of internationally adopted children. Clinical implications for administration and interpretation of nonword repetition task outcomes are included.

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Working With Interpreters to Support Students Who Are English Language Learners

Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups ◽

10.1044/persp1.sig16.15 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 1 (16) ◽

pp. 15-27 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Henriette W. Langdon ◽

Terry Irvine Saenz

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

English Language Learners ◽

Language Learners ◽

English Language ◽

First Language ◽

The United States ◽

The Other ◽

Primary Language ◽

Second Best ◽

Support Students

The number of English Language Learners (ELL) is increasing in all regions of the United States. Although the majority (71%) speak Spanish as their first language, the other 29% may speak one of as many as 100 or more different languages. In spite of an increasing number of speech-language pathologists (SLPs) who can provide bilingual services, the likelihood of a match between a given student's primary language and an SLP's is rather minimal. The second best option is to work with a trained language interpreter in the student's language. However, very frequently, this interpreter may be bilingual but not trained to do the job.

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