Category: Assessment

No matter what language they speak, parents should be an integral part of setting and helping their child reach their English language proficiency goals. One way that this can be accomplished is by informing parents about what the ACCESS for ELLs assessments is. Then, once the student results are in, conferencing with parents and students to discuss strengths, areas for improvement, and implications for future instruction.

WIDA has two documents that can be very helpful when involving parents in the assessment process.

The first is an ACCESS for ELLs Parent Handout which is available in numerous languages.  It helps to explain the ACCESS for ELLs assessment and its components, including why the test is given, when it is given, and how the results are used.

The second resource is the ACCESS for ELLs Individual Student Score Notes. It gives teachers great guiding questions to consider when preparing to share ACCESS scores with students and their families.  I love that the document begins by discussing the students’ language strengths and how it also has a place to compare the students scores from the previous year. This is something that I think classroom teachers, EL teachers, students, and parents would find informative and beneficial.

Use this cheat sheet to understand the program service models, LEP status, and accommodations on your EL students’ PSPs(Program Service Plans).

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dws2zh7AvMEOHUH_nHIuxks72qS9uqeT/view?usp=sharing

WIDA’s Model performance indicators are a great way to know what your ESL students can do at various language levels in the different content areas. This power point presentation shows the three components of MPIs (model performance indicators) and how they can be used to differentiate objectives, instruction, and assessment in the classroom.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uPBdpHA-mhhx2KOCrESVaAnB6ghCaHw5/view?usp=sharing

Project-Based Learning gives our students the opportunity to engage in authentic assessment processes, but in today’s high-stakes, standardized test driven education system, teachers often find themselves skeptical about incorporating PBL. If you have found yourself in this position before, check out the article PBL and Standardized Testing? It Can Work!

This hyperlink takes you to all kinds of resources from Edutopia for assessment in Project-Based Learning.

“Research has clearly demonstrated that assessments designed mainly for native English speakers may not be as reliable and valid for ELLs (Abedi, 2006).”

As teachers, sometimes we feel like we are stuck between a rock and a hard place when it comes to high-stakes standardized testing. We know that these tests aren’t always fair for our ELL students and that they don’t give us a true picture of their abilities. So what can we do to advocate for equity in assessment for our English language learners? The following article discusses three strategies that can help make assessment more equitable for our ELL students.

http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/feb16/vol73/num05/Fair-And-Square-Assessments-for-ELLs.aspx

This ESL diagnostic tool and teacher observation form is one way to informally assess your new ELL students to get a better understanding of their listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills in English. Click the link below to view:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wFf3UrAl76L4Oxmfz69LoDM_FgkM-faf/view?usp=sharing

Have you found yourself wondering what your ELL students should be able to do in writing, based on their proficiency levels? The following resource has graphics that show expectations for newcomers, beginners, intermediate, and advanced ELLs for writing a persuasive, descriptive, chronological, or compare/contrast paragraph.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yvaQ8pyjo_u9HubEV41iKC6AyR70w4Ua/view?usp=sharing