Academic Content Standards & Assessment
The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 requires that all students, including ELLs, meet challenging state academic content and student academic achievement standards. Ensuring that ELLs are ready to meet this challenge requires instruction, standards and assessment that are rigorous and demanding but also sensitive to the linguistic and cultural backgrounds of this diverse group of students.
Academic Content Standards & Instruction
The Guide for Mainstream Teachers within NCELA’s 2008 publication Educating English Language Learners: Building Teacher Capacity provides strategies for content areas teachers working to ensure that ELLs meet challenging academic content standards. Within the Guide are four short sections covering instructional strategies and useful resources for teachers of:
- English language arts
- Social studies
- Science
- Mathematics
For more resources on this topic, visit our professional development, curriculum and instruction page.
For resources on the alignment of curriculum and instruction in the academic content areas, specific to ELLs, visit WIDA's alignment page.
Common Core State Standards
The Common Core State Standards Initiative is a state led effort to develop a common core of state standards in English language arts and mathematics for grades K - 12.
Assessment in Academic Content
Well-designed assessment in the content areas measures what students know and can do in that content area. An effective test of mathematics should provide information to the tester regarding the student’s knowledge and skills in mathematical reasoning. For ELLs, a lack of access to the language of the test can introduce construct-irrelevant variance.
To reduce this variance and to provide test scores for ELLs which can meaninfully be compared with the scores of other students, assessment for ELLs may include accommodations.
An accommodation for ELLs involves changes to testing procedures, testing materials, or the testing situation in order to allow students meaningful participation in the assessment. Effective accommodations for ELLs address the unique linguistic and socio-cultural needs of the student without altering the test construct.
(Willner, Rivera & Acosta, 2008)
Research reviewing the effectiveness of various accomodations designed to ensure accurate test scores for ELLs has identified six accomodation strategies which have been shown to be effective with ELLs (Pennock-Roman & Rivera, 2007); the researchers caution, however, that more research on this question is required.
Accommodations can be classified as providing direct linguistic support, which involves adjustment to the language of the test, or indirect linguistic support, which modifies the conditions of test-taking (Rivera, Collum, Shafer Willner & Sia, 2006). The following accommodations have been identified as being effective accommodations for ELLs:
Direct Linguistic Support:
- English language dictionary or glossary
- Dual language test with side-by-side translation
- Translated assessment
- Plain English versions of test
Indirect Linguistic Support:
- Extended time
In selecting an appropriate accommodation, educators should be sensitive to the native language background of the student; the level of English proficiency; and the student's familiarity with the accommodation instrument, particularly with regard to dictionaries.
References
Pennock-Roman, M. & Rivera, C. (2007). Test validity and mean effects of test accommodations for ELLs and non-ELLs: A meta-analysis. Center for Assessment Reidy Interactive Lecture Series.
Rivera. C., Collum. E., Shafer Willner, L., & Sia Jr., J.K. (2006). An analysis of state assessment policies addressing the accommodation of English language learners. In C. Rivera & E. Collum (Eds.), A national review of state assessment policy and practice for English language learners (pp. 1-173). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Willner, L.S., Rivera, C. & Acosta, B.D. (2008). Descriptive Study of State Assessment Policies for Accommodating English Language Learners. Arlington, VA:The George Washington University Center for Equity and Excellence in Education.
Communication
on Academic Content Assessment