Achieving testing for English Language Learners, ready or not?.

dc.creator	Sau-Lim Tsang
dc.creator	Anne Katz
dc.creator	Jim Stack
dc.date	2008-01-01T00:00:00Z
dc.date.accessioned	2015-07-20T22:18:00Z
dc.date.available	2015-07-20T22:18:00Z
dc.identifier	1068-2341
dc.identifier	https://doaj.org/article/c17ae96330d74ecca6881d86704a8bb0
dc.identifier.uri	http://evidence.thinkportal.org/handle/123456789/19258
dc.description	School reform efforts across the US have focused on creating systems in which all students are expected to achieve to high standards. To ensure that students reach those standards and to document what students know and can do, schools collect assessment information on students' academic achievement. More information is needed, however, to find out when such assessments are appropriate for English learners and can provide meaningful information about what such learners know and can do. We describe and discuss a study that addresses the question of when it is appropriate to administer content area tests in English to English learners. Drawing on the student database of San Francisco Unified School District, we examined the effect of language demands on the SAT/9 mathematics scores of Chinese-speaking and Spanish-speaking students. Our results showed that while the English language demands of the problem solving subscale affect all students, they have a larger effect on English learners' performance, thus rendering the tests inaccurate in measuring English learners' subject matter achievement. Our results also showed that this effect gradually decreases as students become more proficient in English, taking five to six years for students to reach parity with national norms. These results have important implications for the design of school accountability systems and policies with high-stakes consequences for English learners such as high-school graduation requirements based on standardized tests.
dc.language	English
dc.language	Spanish
dc.language	Portuguese
dc.publisher	Arizona State University
dc.relation	http://epaa.asu.edu/ojs/article/view/26
dc.relation	https://doaj.org/toc/1068-2341
dc.rights	CC BY
dc.source	Education Policy Analysis Archives, Vol 16, p 1 (2008)
dc.subject	bilingual students
dc.subject	high risk students
dc.subject	high stakes tests
dc.subject	language proficiency
dc.subject	limited English speaking
dc.subject	standardized tests.
dc.subject	Special aspects of education
dc.subject	LC8-6691
dc.subject	Education
dc.subject	L
dc.subject	DOAJ:Education
dc.subject	DOAJ:Social Sciences
dc.subject	Special aspects of education
dc.subject	LC8-6691
dc.subject	Education
dc.subject	L
dc.subject	DOAJ:Education
dc.subject	DOAJ:Social Sciences
dc.subject	Special aspects of education
dc.subject	LC8-6691
dc.subject	Education
dc.subject	L
dc.subject	Special aspects of education
dc.subject	LC8-6691
dc.subject	Education
dc.subject	L
dc.subject	Special aspects of education
dc.subject	LC8-6691
dc.subject	Education
dc.subject	L
dc.title	Achieving testing for English Language Learners, ready or not?.
dc.type	article