Equitable Written Assessments For English Language Learners

As a result of testing accountability, teachers have changed the shift in their classrooms and focus on teaching to the test. Many criticize that the tests that are administered do not allow for thoughtful or deliberate thinking. Multiple choice questions, condensed reading passages, add to the inauthenticity of the test and can impede the ability of students. Studies have also show that test taking has a negative impact on student achievement in reading, writing, and mathematics. ELL students are still developing their English language skills while learning new content. It is unfair to have the expectations that these ELL students are being held accountable with the same standards as their native-English-speaking peers. ELL students need to have the necessary background knowledge, English language and academic language knowledge to successfully understand test

The research proposal will answer the research question: Are high-stakes test an effective way to test ELLs in content areas? This research proposal will inform educators of their teaching ELLs over the course of a year. Educators will participate in professional development (PD) throughout the course of the year on a biweekly basis. During this PD, educators will reflect on best practices in teaching ELLs, analyze data, and observe other master educators in their field. The data collection process will occur intermittently over the school year. In addition to teacher data, the study will also collect pre, mid, and post assessment scores in reading, writing, and math. The results of this study will demonstrate the effectiveness of high-stakes testing on ELLs.

I believe students face the challenges of assessment and accommodations in different ways than their educators. In the past testing accommodations for schools were often found to be unpredictable

The use of formative assessment practices with ELL students are observational checklists, peer assessment, and performance skills. By having students writing a lesson plan, the roles between the teacher and the students will be changed. This is a formative assessment that engages students in distinctive ways. Students are focused on goals and objectives. It gives them confidence. They are creating a lesson. For ELLs, this is a tremendous accomplishment when done correctly, as well as when done in a collaborative classroom environment. It promotes constructive feedback. Students play an active role in formative assessment. They not only perform the task given, providing evidence of their current learning, but they are also involved in self-assessment (and sometimes peer assessment); therefore, developing and enhancing autonomy.

As a teacher, if you choose a test to be an assessment, think about the different possibilites to accommodate for ESL and ELL students, or those that struggle with tests. These students can struggle with standardized tests, and one way to prepare them are multiple choice tests. Multiple choice tests allow students to compare several options for answers and then choose the correct answer. Oral testing can be a great assessment because spoken language is the ultimate goal. You can focus on the students’ ability to communicate with what they know. This type of assessment gives students the opportunity to self-correct, ask for clarification, and use language creatively. Another common testing assessment for these students is a completion test. This allows students to have a chance to show the teacher what they know, rather than testing for what they do not

These standarized tests were not created to measure students’language proficiency .With the No child Left Behind Act(NCLB), states have to use standarized testing to measure students’ adequate yearly progress(AYP). According to Paige , one of the proponents of the NCLB, standardized tests deliver a valid and reliable means of measuring student learning, and this method expands on teacher-made assessments(Hulsh 2005). Test results alone should not be reliable and valid to measure students’learning. Acombination of assessments and projects can be more reliable and valid to show students’ yearly progress. Because English learners students lack the language proficiency to read and comprehend the questions, the results shoould be considered worthless. The invalid results don’t speak to the students’abilities. Fry mentioned that 46% of 4th grade students in the English language learner (ELL) category scored “below basic” in mathematics in 2005 and that that about 51% of 8th grade ELL students are behind whites in reading and math (Fry 2007). It is nearly impossible for half of ELL to receive a low score in the test. These numbers don’t always mean that the students don’t know the answer, but maybe the numers tell us that the english learners lack the reading comprehension needed to unsderstand the questions. According to Haladyna, students stop taking the test or mark answers aimlessly not because they didn’t learn but because they can not read and nonresponse and omitted responses are more prevalent with English language learners (Haladyna, 2006). When taking the math test, students migh know the answers , but can interpret the question wrong therefore giving a wrong answer.

The third choice of the required reading that I read for my internship is Fair Isn’t Always Equal written by Rick Wormeli. This book is written to help schools and school districts transform their standard grading on assessments and homework to a standards based grading system. The book reasons why schools should look to change to a standard’s based grading system, and the benefits and the amount of information that this type of grading can give us about our students. Not only does this book give the benefits of the grading, it discusses ways to rewrite tests, how to use attendance and effort to give grades, and how to differentiate instruction and assessments to get a true picture of our students and their knowledge of the materials. Wormeli uses quotes from teachers and educational leaders in the different section of the book that have opposite views of standards based grading and the process they used to get to where they are at. This book was assigned to me to read over summer break to begin to prepare us for the change in grading formative assessments using standards based rubrics and the reasons why the change in necessary to truly see if students are learning.

Assessments are used to track a student’s progress while examining how much they have learned. In the English Teacher’s Companion, it discusses that all the work a student does throughout the year becomes a means of assessing what they have learned (285). In my classroom, it is crucial to examine the process of my students learning throughout the year without basing their entire grade on one final exam. As mentioned in the text, a few of the strategies that I imagine using are to give students as much information as possible. The author states “Students should understand the requirements, the standards, and the criteria” (286). With that being said,

After many phone conversations, messages left, and emails with different ESL teachers and board of education members, information regarding English Language Learner (ELL) placement assessments were finally found. Schools need to provide an appropriate and equal education for students with different skill levels in many different areas. Luckily there are many formal assessments available to schools to not only assess student academic skills but their English language proficiency as well. Joplin School District’s policies are governed, for the most part, by state and federal mandates. This is because it is a public school district that receives federal funding; making public schools responsible for upholding the standards set forth by the

This artifact is all of the materials on the micro-teaching lesson plan I completed in my assessment course based on an article titled, Fair and Square Assessments for ELLs. This lesson explained all the key points in the article. The main focus of this article was how to make assessments fair for English language learners, by using the strategies discussed in the article. This artifact would fit under standard #2: learning differences, since it is discussing how English language learners learn differently and need guidance with assessments. By having this background on English language learners will allow me to have a better understand of how to effectively teach and assess English language learners. This is a representation of my best work

Chapter 7 discusses the importance of advocating for the ELs’ equitable access to assessments. As teachers of ELs, we are very aware of how the annual high-stakes assessments are culturally and linguistically biases.

The use of formal and informal reading assessments provide important data that allow educators to identify at risk students (Tompkins, 2010). The data collected from the assessments address any factors that may prohibit the development of students’ reading and writing skills. In addition to the assessments, the more an educator can learn about students’ backgrounds and their past reading, language development, and writing experiences the more instructional strategies can be designed to specifically meet the needs of diverse learners in the classroom.

Content is very important when it comes to in assessment. This is very important for ELL since teachers need to make sure that they are providing materials that help to see the demonstrating of students understanding. Assessments are importance because it helps to see whether the goals that are set are being meet or not. Teachers want to make sure that the content will help them make meaningful decisions. The importance of content is making sure that the correct implications are being meant. It was stated assessments are used to measure classification, promotion, or classification (Abedi, & Levine, 2013, P. 26). Therefore, it is important to make sure that teachers are assessing students for a significant outcome. When ELL students are being assessed it is important to present students with linguistic support (Abedi, & Levine, 2013, P. 27). Overall teachers need to make sure that they are assessing the ELL students since the ELL students are not familiar with the English

The grade levels this text is designed to prepare educators for teaching is evidenced first in its overall discussion of properly preparing students to be able to write on demand for state assessment tests. Given that such tests do not regularly take place until students are out of elementary education it is apparent that this text is directed towards teachers working with a higher age bracket. This is also further revealed in instances where teachers are directed to help students think backwards, a skill that is not highly promoted in elementary education as most children at this age level have not yet developed the capacity to think backwards. The process described for enabling students to analyze prompts is also one that would be dominantly used beyond the beginning years of education. Considering each of these factors, the aim of this text is to be utilized by teachers working with a middle school to high school age bracket.

There are not many advantages for English language learners whereas standardized testing is concerned. Teachers will have to create individualized ways in monitoring students’ progress to gain true assessment results.