Download or read book Ensuring Accuracy in Testing for English Language Learners written by Rebecca Kopriva and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 113 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This guide has the broad purpose of improving large-scale academic assessments for limited-English-proficient (LEP) students. It was written because large-scale assessments are studded with problems that affect not only how equitable the achievement of LEP students can be measured, but also how effectively LEP students' mastery of content is assessed. LEP students may understand more than they are allowed to demonstrate under the confines of large scale tests designed for mainstream use with students sharing common cultural experiences. This guide is designed to provide both practical, research-based information for individuals and groups developing and administering tests of academic achievement for LEP students. It is also intended to provide lucid, easily accessible knowledge for policymakers that clarify the complex issues facing LEP students. The guide is organized into 10 chapters with two appendices. Chapters cover the following topics: issues of alignment, inclusion, and participation; alignment of performance standards to content standards; test specifications and the accessibility framework for LEP students; accessibility on writing terms; writing accessible rubrics; promising administrative and response accommodations; expanded bias reviews; scoring constructed response items; demonstrating the technical merit of assessments; and accessibility considerations when reporting and using test results. The appendices offer a technical discussion of issues related to accessibility and the highlights of key research on assessment of LEP students. (Contains 60 references.) (KFT)

Download or read book Improving Testing For English Language Learners written by Rebecca Kopriva and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2011-02-23 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More than any book to date, this one provides a comprehensive approach to designing, building, implementing and interpreting test results that validly measure the academic achievement of English language learners. It scaffolds the entire process of test development and implementation and discusses essential intervention points. The book provides the type of evidence-based guidance called for in federal mandates such as the NCLB legislation. Key features of this important new book include the following... Comprehensive – This book recommends methods for properly including ELLs throughout the entire test development process, addressing all essential steps from planning, item writing and reviews to analyses and reporting. Breadth and Depth of Coverage– Coverage includes discussion of the key issues, explanations and detailed instructions at each intervention point. Research Focus – All chapters include an extensive review of current research. Emerging Trends – The chapters summarize guidance appropriate for innovative computer-based assessments of the future as well as the paper-and-pencil tests of today. This book is appropriate for anyone concerned with the development and implementation of fair and accurate testing programs for English language learners. This includes university based researchers, testing personel at the federal, state and local levels, teachers interested in better assessing their diverse student populations and those involved in the testing industry. It is also appropriate for instructors teaching undergraduate and graduate courses devoted to testing the full range of students in todays schools.

Download or read book Young English Language Learners written by Eugene E. Garcia and published by Teachers College Press. This book was released on 2019-07-05 with total page 357 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is well known that the number of non-English speakers is on the rise in the United States. What is less well known is that the largest proportion of this population is children under the age of 5. These young English language learners (ELLs) often demonstrate achievement gaps in basic math and reading skills when they start school. How best to educate this important and growing preschool population is a pressing concern for policymakers and practitioners. The chapters in this important book provide up-to-date syntheses of the research base for young ELLs on critical topics such as demographics, development of bilingualism, cognitive and neurological benefits of bilingualism, and family relationships, as well as classroom, assessment, and teacher-preparation practices. Contributors: Linda M. Espinosa, Margaret Freedson, Claudia Galindo, Fred Genesee, Donald J. Hernandez, José E. Náñez Sr., and Flora V. Rodríguez-Brown “This is a must-have for those who are working directly or indirectly with young English language learners.” —Olivia Saracho, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland

Download or read book Allocating Federal Funds for State Programs for English Language Learners written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2011-07-20 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Download or read book Improving Testing For English Language Learners written by Rebecca Kopriva and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2011-02-23 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More than any book to date, this one provides a comprehensive approach to designing, building, implementing and interpreting test results that validly measure the academic achievement of English language learners. It scaffolds the entire process of test development and implementation and discusses essential intervention points. The book provides the type of evidence-based guidance called for in federal mandates such as the NCLB legislation. Key features of this important new book include the following... Comprehensive – This book recommends methods for properly including ELLs throughout the entire test development process, addressing all essential steps from planning, item writing and reviews to analyses and reporting. Breadth and Depth of Coverage– Coverage includes discussion of the key issues, explanations and detailed instructions at each intervention point. Research Focus – All chapters include an extensive review of current research. Emerging Trends – The chapters summarize guidance appropriate for innovative computer-based assessments of the future as well as the paper-and-pencil tests of today. This book is appropriate for anyone concerned with the development and implementation of fair and accurate testing programs for English language learners. This includes university based researchers, testing personel at the federal, state and local levels, teachers interested in better assessing their diverse student populations and those involved in the testing industry. It is also appropriate for instructors teaching undergraduate and graduate courses devoted to testing the full range of students in todays schools.

Download or read book Testing English Language Learners in U S Schools written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2001-01-12 with total page 58 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Committee on Educational Excellence and Testing Equity was created under the auspices of the National Research Council (NRC), and specifically under the oversight of the Board on Testing and Assessment (BOTA). The committee's charge is to explore the challenges that face U.S. schools as they work to achieve the related goals of academic excellence and equity for all students. This report provides not only the summary of a workshop held by the forum on the testing of English-language learners (students learning English as an additional language) in U.S. schools, but also a report on the committee's conclusions derived from that workshop and from subsequent deliberations.

Download or read book Reporting Test Results for Students with Disabilities and English Language Learners written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2002-09-06 with total page 102 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At the request of the U.S. Department of Education, the National Research Council's (NRC) Board on Testing and Assessment (BOTA) convened a workshop on reporting test results for individuals who receive accommodations during large-scale assessments. The workshop brought together representatives from state assessment offices, individuals familiar with testing students with disabilities and English-language learners, and measurement experts to discuss the policy, measurement, and score use considerations associated with testing students with special needs.

Download or read book Standards Based Instruction and Assessment for English Language Learners written by Mary Ann Lachat and published by Corwin Press. This book was released on 2004-04-15 with total page 161 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Provide a superior education for students from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds! Education reform initiatives emphasize that all students must be held to the same standards of academic achievement. Yet assessment and instructional practices in American schools were neither created nor designed to be responsive to the range of diversity represented in today′s classroom. Standards-Based Instruction and Assessment for English Language Learners explores the issues that must be addressed to ensure the academic success of English Language Learners (ELLs). Providing an overview of what standards-based educational reforms means for the fast-growing population of ELLs in America′s schools, author Mary Ann Lachat offers practical guidelines to help school administrators and classroom teachers implement effective practices for culturally diverse learners. The manual includes useful tools for conducting a schoolwide assessment and designing professional development plans for teachers. Bridging research to policy and practice implications, this unique manual examines The characteristics of ELLs in America′s schools How language and culture affect learning Language development issues for ELLs What teachers need to know about assessment for ELLs Standards-based learning practices that support the success of ELLs Help fulfill our nation′s unprecedented commitment to educate all children to be effective thinkers, communicators, and problem-solvers. In increasingly diverse classrooms, an understanding of standards-based instruction and assessment for ELLs is essential for achieving both excellence and equity in our education system.Designed primarily for principals, classroom teachers, directors of bilingual education, Title 1 coordinators, and other administrators responsible for ELLs, this innovative volume is also an extraordinary resource for bilingual education and ESL teachers.

Download or read book A Practical Guide to Assessing English Language Learners written by Christine Anne Coombe and published by University of Michigan Press ELT. This book was released on 2007 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For many teachers of English language learners, the field of assessment is foreign territory. Assessment has its own culture, traditions, and terminology. This training guide is intended to help classroom teachers become more comfortable creating and using assessments. A Practical Guide to Assessing English Language Learners provides helpful insights into the practice and terminology of assessment. The text focuses on providing the cornerstones of good assessments—usefulness, validity, reliability, practicality, washback, authenticity, transparency, and security—and techniques for testing. It devotes a chapter to the assessment of each of the four main skill areas (reading, writing, listening, and speaking), and also covers placement testing, such as using TOEFL® and MELAB, diagnostic testing, evaluation, and instructional decision-making with regard to testing. Tips to improve students’ test-taking strategies are offered, and each chapter ends with a helpful list of Ten Things to Remember, as well as informative case studies featuring two teachers and their assessment decisions. Incorporating its own principles, A Practical Guide to Assessing English Language Learners opens with a short quiz for the reader called Are You Testwise? that quickly determines how each teacher will benefit from this indispensable guide.

Download or read book Testing Teaching and Learning written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 1999-10-06 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: State education departments and school districts face an important challenge in implementing a new law that requires disadvantaged students to be held to the same standards as other students. The new requirements come from provisions of the 1994 reauthorization of Title I, the largest federal effort in precollegiate education, which provides aid to "level the field" for disadvantaged students. Testing, Teaching, and Learning is written to help states and school districts comply with the new law, offering guidance for designing and implementing assessment and accountability systems. This book examines standards-based education reform and reviews the research on student assessment, focusing on the needs of disadvantaged students covered by Title I. With examples of states and districts that have track records in new systems, the committee develops a practical "decision framework" for education officials. The book explores how best to design assessment and accountability systems that support high levels of student learning and to work toward continuous improvement. Testing, Teaching, and Learning will be an important tool for all involved in educating disadvantaged studentsâ€"state and local administrators and classroom teachers.

Download or read book Large scale Assessment Programs for All Students written by Gerald Tindal and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 470 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The need for a comprehensive volume that reviews both the processes and issues involved in developing, administering, and validating large-scale assessment programs has never been greater. These programs are used for many purposes, including instructional program evaluation, promotion, certification, graduation, and accountability. One of the greatest problems we face is how to deal with special needs and bilingual populations. Examining these processes and issues is the mission of this book. It is organized into the following five sections: Introduction, Validity Issues, Technical Issues, Implementation Issues, and Epilogue. Each chapter follows a common structure: Overview of critical issues, review of relevant research, descriptions of current assessment methodologies, and recommendations for the future research and practice. Written by nationally recognized scholars,Large-Scale Assessment Programs for All Students: Validity, Technical Adequacy, and Implementation will appeal to anyone seriously involved in large scale testing, including educators, policymakers, testing company personnel, and researchers in education, psychology, and public policy.

Download or read book Testing Students With Disabilities written by Martha L. Thurlow and published by Corwin Press. This book was released on 2003 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is intended to facilitate the meaningful inclusion of students with disabilities in district and state assessments as required by the 1997 amendments to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. First, an introductory chapter offers reasons for including students with disabilities in district and statewide accountability systems. Chapters 2 through 6 address the specifics of including children with disabilities, such as deciding how students participate in district and state tests, eligibility for assessment accommodations, how to decide which accommodations are appropriate for use in assessments, the characteristics of alternate assessments, and including English language learners with disabilities in assessments. Chapters 7 through 10 address using assessment results, how the Individualized Education Program (IEP) can be restructured to promote greater participation in the accountability system, teacher and service provider collaboration, gaining support from administrators, parent involvement in testing decisions, and the legalities of restructuring accountability systems that include all students. Extensive appendices include sample forms and worksheets for participation decision making, IEP development, assessment accommodations, and student feedback; checklists of criteria for deciding about participation, accommodations, and assessment type; a guide to staff development; and a list of Technical Assistance and Dissemination Networks. (Individual chapters identify additional resources.) (CR).

Download or read book Engaging English Learners Through Access to Standards written by Shelley Fairbairn and published by Corwin Press. This book was released on 2015-07-16 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Use this six-part strategy for measurable, cross-curricular EL achievement! How can districts and schools successfully promote academic English language development through teaching content knowledge and standards-based skills and abilities? This thoroughly researched book provides concrete answers. You’ll find practical steps and ideas for developing collaborative, cross-curricular programs that address EL-specific needs. Clear tables and templates, essays, expert research, and real-life teacher and parent stories illuminate best practices for appropriate standards-based instruction that gets results. Using the authors’ six-part ENGAGE Model, you’ll learn to: Establish a shared vision for serving ELs Name the expertise to utilize within collaborative teams Gather and analyze EL-specific data Align standards-based assessments and grading to ELs’ linguistic and content development Ground standards-based instruction in both content and language development Examine results to inform next steps Use this groundbreaking guide to accelerate progress and ensure effective instruction for all ELs! "Learning requires attention, engagement, and quality instruction. This book provides all three necessary components in one place; a model that teachers can use to ensure that their English learners achieve." -Douglas Fisher San Diego State University "This book should be a mandatory must read for all educators as we continue to serve our diverse student populations and strive to ensure we are honestly reaching academic achievement for each and every student!" -Michele R. Dean Coordinator,Ventura Unified School District

Download or read book Teaching Your Secondary ELLs the Academic Language of Tests written by r4Educated Solutions and published by Solution Tree Press. This book was released on 2011-10-05 with total page 124 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A joint publication of Solution Tree and r4 Educated Solutions--Teach your English language learners unfamiliar language features before they encounter these words in core content areas and standardized test questions. Evidence-based, teacher-friendly lesson plan provide a practical framework for ensuring diverse learners have the same opportunity to achieve. This manual also supports content-area teachers in providing instruction for content-specific language skills. Each lesson plan provides background information for the teacher, implications for high-stakes testing, a list of materials, academic vocabulary, and activities.

Download or read book International Encyclopedia of Education written by and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2009-04-17 with total page 6964 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The field of education has experienced extraordinary technological, societal, and institutional change in recent years, making it one of the most fascinating yet complex fields of study in social science. Unequalled in its combination of authoritative scholarship and comprehensive coverage, International Encyclopedia of Education, Third Edition succeeds two highly successful previous editions (1985, 1994) in aiming to encapsulate research in this vibrant field for the twenty-first century reader. Under development for five years, this work encompasses over 1,000 articles across 24 individual areas of coverage, and is expected to become the dominant resource in the field. Education is a multidisciplinary and international field drawing on a wide range of social sciences and humanities disciplines, and this new edition comprehensively matches this diversity. The diverse background and multidisciplinary subject coverage of the Editorial Board ensure a balanced and objective academic framework, with 1,500 contributors representing over 100 countries, capturing a complete portrait of this evolving field. A totally new work, revamped with a wholly new editorial board, structure and brand-new list of meta-sections and articles Developed by an international panel of editors and authors drawn from senior academia Web-enhanced with supplementary multimedia audio and video files, hotlinked to relevant references and sources for further study Incorporates ca. 1,350 articles, with timely coverage of such topics as technology and learning, demography and social change, globalization, and adult learning, to name a few Offers two content delivery options - print and online - the latter of which provides anytime, anywhere access for multiple users and superior search functionality via ScienceDirect, as well as multimedia content, including audio and video files

Download or read book Utilising Fiction to Promote English Language Acquisition written by Suhair Al Alami and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2013-07-29 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The teaching of English in the United Arab Emirates is based upon the communicative approach and aims to enable EFL students to employ language skills for communication purposes, as appropriate. Personal experience and the author’s colleagues’ observations, however, reveal that a number of EFL university students fail to achieve adequate communicative competence, which, in turn, does not qualify them to exploit the foreign language of English as required by their curricula as well as by today’s world. Central to university education in the United Arab Emirates is critical thinking. It seems reasonable, then, to assume that EFL university students are well-equipped to tackle a reading text and to handle a writing task, demonstrating through such activities an adequate repertoire of critical thinking skills. Personal experience and the author’s colleagues’ observations, however, indicate that this does not apply to a number of EFL university students studying in the country. Seeking an effective remedy, the author argues that utilising literature in the EFL classroom would be beneficial in terms of many essential aspects. Based on a three-year research project conducted at a private university in Dubai involving a number of EFL students, the book concludes with some suggestions with regards to what criteria to adopt when utilising literary texts. The current book, as such, is expected to be of use and interest to: applied linguists (as the study proposes an approach to integrating the teaching of language, literature, communication and critical thinking, with the ultimate goal of promoting communicative competence and enhancing critical thinking on the part of EFL learners); curricula designers (since the study introduces a course for the enhancement of communicative competence and critical thinking); and EFL instructors (because the study offers instructional material which can be adopted or adapted when teaching EFL university students).

Download or read book Special Education Considerations for English Language Learners written by Else V. Hamayan and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This important guide shows how to determine appropriate interventions for ELLs with academic challenges. It includes extensive new discussions of RtI and standardized testing used for diagnostic purposes and and reviews consequences for ELLs. The ensuring a continuum of services model featured in the book is a strong collaborative framework that takes teams of educators step-by-step through gathering information about and implementing effective interventions for ELLs with learning difficulties.