Special Topic Area:
Participation for English Language Learners

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Should English language learners participate in state and district assessments?
All students should be included in educational accountability systems. This includes students who are learning English and other content at the same time. Some students will participate in the same way as other students; they will take regular state or district tests with no accommodations. Other students will participate in regular assessments using accommodations to enable them to better demonstrate their skills by reducing the language load of the test.

Some students with limited English proficiency may need to participate in an alternate state or district assessment that measures the same standards as the regular assessments, but in a different format from traditional assessments (e.g., performance assessments). Alternate assessments comprise an emerging approach to including all English language learners in state and district assessments. Students who participate in these alternate assessments should still be part of the overall accountability system.

2. Why is it important to include English language learners in the general accountability system?
To get an accurate picture of where the educational system’s strengths and weaknesses are, you need to determine how ALL students are doing. Students who are excluded from measurement are excluded from school improvement plans based on that measurement. Unintended effects such as not having access to limited resources to improve schools are important reasons to include ALL students in measurement for accountability. But it is important for the students themselves: by raising expectations that all students will learn at high levels, and then testing their accomplishments, successful outcomes will be raised as well. If all students are to benefit from educational reforms, all students must be included.

3. Who should decide about the participation of an English language learner in an assessment?
Because decisions should not be made on the basis of arbitrary criteria, it is essential that specific criteria exist and that decision makers know these and the student well. Knowing the student well includes knowing about the student's instructional program as well as the student's strengths, weaknesses, and other relevant characteristics. Although some states and districts are forming teams to make decisions about students receiving English as a Second Language (ESL) or Bilingual Education Services, most still rely on test administrators or teachers to make these decisions. It is critical for these people to know the importance of student participation in assessment.

For English language learners who also have an IEP or 504 plan, assessment decisions are usually made by the IEP team. In these cases, it is important that an ESL professional serve on the IEP team so that decisions are made that take into account both the student's disability and linguistic needs.

4. How should participation decisions be made?
Start with the premise that all students are going to participate in the accountability system. Starting with the assumption that all students are in the accountability system really helps to maximize the participation of English language learners. Although the length of time a student has been in the country may correlate with language proficiency, years in the U.S. is probably not a good basis for decisions about participation in assessments.

Student characteristics and the nature of the student's language skills are important variables to consider. This information should be combined with knowledge of available accommodations for the assessment. Still, the decision is not whether the student will participate, but how the student will participate.

Test participation and accommodation decisions should be made on an individual student basis.

5. Why should English language learners who want to do well be put through the emotional stress of taking a state or district test?
Assessments in standards-based systems serve a number of purposes: instructional planning; measuring school and district performance; and for accountability on the part of the state, district, and school as well as the student. The purpose of an assessment will affect how best to include all students:

• If the purpose is to measure the effectiveness of the school in helping all students reach high standards, then having students participate in the assessment is important WHETHER OR NOT they have had the opportunity to learn those skills. Only by measuring "how well the system is doing" will we clearly identify and then fill the gaps in instructional opportunity that leave some students out.
• If the purpose is to measure the progress of individual students, or to use the results for decisions about graduation status or promotion, then full participation in the assessment is important, along with ensuring that the system has made opportunities to learn to high standards accessible to ALL students. If current instructional practices or assessment technical limitations prevent the student from demonstrating skills in current formats, other measures can be used to validate learning on an individual basis, in addition to the assessment scores. An appeals process may be part of this validation of student learning. Eventually technical limitations should be corrected so that all students can participate and receive meaningful scores.

In either case, working directly with the student and his or her family is important so that all involved understand the purpose, and any concerns can be minimized.

6. How can English language learners participate in an assessment if the state or district does not allow students to take the test with all of the accommodations they need?
The NCEO Web pages on accommodations provide some strategies to address the problem of state or district guidelines for not allowing certain accommodations. See the special topic area on accommodations.   All states are working to resolve these issues, as are researchers, test publishers, advocacy groups, and practitioners. Contacting the state or district for advice on individual situations is usually a good first step. Also, volunteering to be part of stakeholder groups working on revising current policies is helpful for pushing policies forward.

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This page was last updated on July 15, 2008