Assessing English Language Proficiency in U.S. K–12 Schools

Assessing English Language Proficiency in U.S. K–12 Schools
Author: Mikyung Kim Wolf
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 252
Release: 2020-05-31
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1000053016

Assessing English Language Proficiency in U.S. K–12 Schools offers comprehensive background information about the generation of standards-based, English language proficiency (ELP) assessments used in U.S. K–12 school settings. The chapters in this book address a variety of key issues involved in the development and use of those assessments: defining an ELP construct driven by new academic content and ELP standards, using technology for K–12 ELP assessments, addressing the needs of various English learner (EL) students taking the assessments, connecting assessment with teaching and learning, and substantiating validity claims. Each chapter also contains suggestions for future research that will contribute to the next generation of K–12 ELP assessments and improve policies and practices in the use of the assessments. This book is intended to be a useful resource for researchers, graduate students, test developers, practitioners, and policymakers who are interested in learning more about large-scale, standards-based ELP assessments for K–12 EL students.

Assessing English Language Learners: Bridges to Educational Equity

Assessing English Language Learners: Bridges to Educational Equity
Author: Margo Gottlieb
Publisher: Corwin Press
Total Pages: 297
Release: 2016-03-03
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1506342159

Build the bridges for English language learners to reach success! This thoroughly updated edition of Gottlieb’s classic delivers a complete set of tools, techniques, and ideas for planning and implementing instructional assessment of ELLs. The book includes: A focus on academic language use in every discipline, from mathematics to social studies, within and across language domains Emphasis on linguistically and culturally responsive assessment as a key driver for measuring academic achievement A reconceptualization of assessment “as,” “for,” and “of” learning Reflection questions to stimulate discussion around how students, teachers, and administrators can all have a voice in decision making

English Language Proficiency Assessments for Young Learners

English Language Proficiency Assessments for Young Learners
Author: Mikyung Kim Wolf
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 330
Release: 2017-05-25
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1317379039

English Language Proficiency Assessments for Young Learners provides both theoretical and empirical information about assessing the English language proficiency of young learners. Using large-scale standardized English language proficiency assessments developed for international or U.S. contexts as concrete examples, this volume illustrates rigorous processes of developing and validating assessments with considerations of young learners’ unique characteristics. In this volume, young learners are defined as school-age children from approximately 5 to 13 years old, learning English as a foreign language (EFL) or a second language (ESL). This volume also discusses innovative ways to assess young learners’ English language abilities based on empirical studies, with each chapter offering stimulating ideas for future research and development work to improve English language assessment practices with young learners. English Language Proficiency Assessments for Young Learners is a useful resource for students, test developers, educators, and researchers in the area of language testing and assessment.

Allocating Federal Funds for State Programs for English Language Learners

Allocating Federal Funds for State Programs for English Language Learners
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 240
Release: 2011-06-20
Genre: Education
ISBN: 0309216737

As the United States continues to be a nation of immigrants and their children, the nation's school systems face increased enrollments of students whose primary language is not English. With the 2001 reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) in the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), the allocation of federal funds for programs to assist these students to be proficient in English became formula-based: 80 percent on the basis of the population of children with limited English proficiency1 and 20 percent on the basis of the population of recently immigrated children and youth. Title III of NCLB directs the U.S. Department of Education to allocate funds on the basis of the more accurate of two allowable data sources: the number of students reported to the federal government by each state education agency or data from the American Community Survey (ACS). The department determined that the ACS estimates are more accurate, and since 2005, those data have been basis for the federal distribution of Title III funds. Subsequently, analyses of the two data sources have raised concerns about that decision, especially because the two allowable data sources would allocate quite different amounts to the states. In addition, while shortcomings were noted in the data provided by the states, the ACS estimates were shown to fluctuate between years, causing concern among the states about the unpredictability and unevenness of program funding. In this context, the U.S. Department of Education commissioned the National Research Council to address the accuracy of the estimates from the two data sources and the factors that influence the estimates. The resulting book also considers means of increasing the accuracy of the data sources or alternative data sources that could be used for allocation purposes.

PreK-12 English Language Proficiency Standards

PreK-12 English Language Proficiency Standards
Author: TESOL International Association
Publisher: Tesol Press
Total Pages: 164
Release: 2006
Genre: Foreign Language Study
ISBN:

The revised PreK-12 English Language Proficiency Standards build on the World-Class Instructional Design and Assessments (WIDA) Consortium's English Language Proficiency Standards for English Language Learners in Kindergarten through Grade 12 (Wisconsin, 2004). The WIDA Consortium is a group of ten states, formed in 2002 with federal monies, that has developed comprehensive English language proficiency standards. This volume also uses grade-level clusters that reflect current educational configurations in the United States. Each of the five language proficiency standards is divided into the four language domains of listening, speaking, reading and writing. The five levels of language proficiency reflect characteristics of language performance at each developmental stage and include: starting (L1), emerging (L2), developing (L3), expanding (L4), and bridging (L5).

Promoting the Educational Success of Children and Youth Learning English

Promoting the Educational Success of Children and Youth Learning English
Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 529
Release: 2017-08-25
Genre: Education
ISBN: 0309455405

Educating dual language learners (DLLs) and English learners (ELs) effectively is a national challenge with consequences both for individuals and for American society. Despite their linguistic, cognitive, and social potential, many ELsâ€"who account for more than 9 percent of enrollment in grades K-12 in U.S. schoolsâ€"are struggling to meet the requirements for academic success, and their prospects for success in postsecondary education and in the workforce are jeopardized as a result. Promoting the Educational Success of Children and Youth Learning English: Promising Futures examines how evidence based on research relevant to the development of DLLs/ELs from birth to age 21 can inform education and health policies and related practices that can result in better educational outcomes. This report makes recommendations for policy, practice, and research and data collection focused on addressing the challenges in caring for and educating DLLs/ELs from birth to grade 12.

Differentiating Instruction and Assessment for English Language Learners

Differentiating Instruction and Assessment for English Language Learners
Author: Shelley Fairbairn
Publisher: Brookes Publishing Company
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2019
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9781934000380

"Explains why and shows how to differentiate assessments, assignments, and instruction for English language learners according to English language proficiency level and other background factors"--

Handbook of Education Policy Research

Handbook of Education Policy Research
Author: Gary Sykes
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 1062
Release: 2012-09-10
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1135856478

Co-published by Routledge for the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Educational policy continues to be of major concern. Policy debates about economic growth and national competitiveness, for example, commonly focus on the importance of human capital and a highly educated workforce. Defining the theoretical boundaries and methodological approaches of education policy research are the two primary themes of this comprehensive, AERA-sponsored Handbook. Organized into seven sections, the Handbook focuses on (1) disciplinary foundations of educational policy, (2) methodological perspectives, (3) the policy process, (4) resources, management, and organization, (5) teaching and learning policy, (6) actors and institutions, and (7) education access and differentiation. Drawing from multiple disciplines, the Handbook’s over one hundred authors address three central questions: What policy issues and questions have oriented current policy research? What research strategies and methods have proven most fruitful? And what issues, questions, and methods will drive future policy research? Topics such as early childhood education, school choice, access to higher education, teacher accountability, and testing and measurement cut across the 63 chapters in the volume. The politics surrounding these and other issues are objectively analyzed by authors and commentators. Each of the seven sections concludes with two commentaries by leading scholars in the field. The first considers the current state of policy design, and the second addresses the current state of policy research. This book is appropriate for scholars and graduate students working in the field of education policy and for the growing number of academic, government, and think-tank researchers engaged in policy research. For more information on the American Educational Research Association, please visit: http://www.aera.net/.

The Language Demands of School

The Language Demands of School
Author: Alison L. Bailey
Publisher: Yale University Press
Total Pages: 248
Release: 2007-01-01
Genre: Education
ISBN: 0300109466

The Language Demands of School is an edited volume describing an extensive empirical base for academic English testing, instruction and professional development. The chapters comprise empirical research by Bailey and colleagues at the National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, Student Testing (CRESST) at UCLA, and invited contributions by practitioners in the fields of language policy, testing and instruction. The central focus of the chapters is the research conducted by CRESST over the last two years in an attempt to document the academic English language demands placed on school-age learners of English. The three additional chapters give the perspectives of a policy-maker at the state level, test developers, and practitioners. The Language Demands of School fills a gap in the current literature by addressing the kind(s) of English required of K-12 English Learner students from an evidence-based perspective. This is timely given the broader context of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, which has prompted school systems to identify English language proficiency tests to meet the federal mandate. One of the problems that has surfaced in the search for English language tests for K-12 English Learner students is the inadequacy of existing research on the development of the academic English language skills that all students—both English Learner and native English-speaking—need to be successful in the school setting. The Language Demands of School is devoted to exploring this topic and to presenting research that illuminates both the questions and the answers.

ESL Standards for Pre-K-12 Students

ESL Standards for Pre-K-12 Students
Author: Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages
Publisher: Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages Incorporated
Total Pages: 180
Release: 1997
Genre: Curriculum planning
ISBN:

The guide outlines performance standards for each of three broad goals of English-as-a-Second-Language teaching in elementary and secondary education. The three goals include: use of English to communicate in social settings; use of English to achieve academically in all content areas; and use of English in socially and culturally appropriate ways. Within each of these three goals, three more specific performance standards are enumerated. An introductory section explains the rationale, origins, and use of these standards. Subsequent sections, one for each grade group (pre-K-3, 4-8, 9-12), detail appropriate descriptors and progress indicators for each standard for students at that level. In addition, a brief vignette illustrates their use in the classroom, and some further discussion follows. A glossary is included and supporting documentation is appended. Contains 57 references. (MSE)