Assessing Adult English Language Learners
Learner assessments are used in adult basic education (ABE), adult English as a Second
Language (ESL), and family literacy programs for many different purposes: to place learners
in appropriate instructional levels and classes, to measure their progress and motivate them
to advance to higher levels, to qualify them to enroll in academic or job training programs,
to document program effectiveness, and to demonstrate learner gains in order to meet
accountability requirements. They also are used throughout a program to determine
learners’ goals and needs and to help learners to assess their own progress.
Because of these different purposes, programs use a variety of assessment instruments and
procedures. This paper first explains federal accountability requirements and the
assessments used to meet those requirements. It then describes measures used for other
purposes, including learner needs assessment and assessment to inform teachers and learners
about learners’ progress.
Program Accountability
The Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (Title II of the Workforce Investment Act of
1998) requires that each state report learner outcomes in the following areas:
??Improvements in English language proficiency and literacy, numeracy, and problem
solving
??Receipt of a secondary school diploma or its recognized equivalent (GED)
??Placement in postsecondary education and training
??Entry into employment or retention in employment (U.S. Department of Education,
2001).
Improvements in English language proficiency and literacy are reported in terms of level
descriptors defined by the National Reporting System (NRS). The six levels for ESL apply
to speaking and listening, reading and writing, and functional and workplace skills ranging
from beginning ESL literacy to high advanced ESL. (See www.nrsweb.org for a description
of the purposes and structure of the NRS and the ESL functioning level descriptors.)
A standardized assessment procedure (a test or performance assessment) must be used to
measure level gains, but the choice of assessment tool is left up to each state. Some states
have chosen one standardized test. Several states allow choices from a list of approved tests.
Most states currently use BEST Oral Interview, BEST Literacy, BEST Plus, or CASAS. (For
information about these tests, see English Language Assessment Instruments for Adults
Learning English, page IV–31.) Adult education and family literacy program staff must
follow the assessment procedures in place in their states if the program receives federal
funding.
Assessment Validity, Reliability, and Appropriateness
The assessments used for program accountability must be valid, reliable, and appropriate.
This has raised important questions for the field. What are features of assessments that
make them valid, reliable, and appropriate? (For more detailed discussion of these issues,
see American Educational Research Association, American Psychological Association, &
National Council on Measurement in Education, 1999).
What makes an assessment valid?
Assessment is valid when the test, or other instrument, assesses what it is intended to
measure, and when uses of the assessment results are only those for which the instrument
was designed (Messick, 1989). This view takes into account both the validity of the test
itself and the use of the test scores; a test’s validity depends on what it is used for, in what
contexts, and for what purposes. In terms of assessments used to fulfill NRS requirements,
the answers to the questions shown below are important.
??Does learner performance match the NRS descriptors?
??How well does the test demonstrate learner progress?
??How indicative of program quality are learner performances on the assessment?
Any assessment used for NRS purposes is valid only if the inferences made about the
learners on the basis of the test scores can be related to the NRS descriptors, or what the
learners can do (proficiency). The assessment also must be sensitive enough to learner gains
to be able to show progress, since the quality of programs is to be judged by learner
performance on the assessment.
What makes an assessment reliable?
An assessment is reliable if scores are consistent when the test is repeated on a population of
individuals or groups. For example, if a learner takes a test once, then takes it again an hour
later and maybe another hour after that, the learner should get about the same score each
time, provided nothing else has changed.
Test reliability can be affected by a number of factors: the test itself, the test administrator,
the person who does the scoring, the testing procedures, the conditions under which the test
is administered, or even the examinee. For example, an examinee might be feeling great the
day of the pre-test but facing a family crisis on the day of the post-test.
Who has responsibility for ensuring that an assessment is reliable? The developers of the
assessment must demonstrate that reliability can be achieved. Program staff using the
assessment must administer it in the ways it is designed to be administered. Programs need
to train the individuals who will administer the test so that it will be administered
appropriately each time it is used, and they need to monitor its administration and scoring.
Programs also must ensure that enough time (or hours of instruction) has passed for learners
to show gains.
المادة المعروضة اعلاه هي مدخل الى المحاضرة المرفوعة بواسطة استاذ(ة) المادة . وقد تبدو لك غير متكاملة . حيث يضع استاذ المادة في بعض الاحيان فقط الجزء الاول من المحاضرة من اجل الاطلاع على ما ستقوم بتحميله لاحقا . في نظام التعليم الالكتروني نوفر هذه الخدمة لكي نبقيك على اطلاع حول محتوى الملف الذي ستقوم بتحميله .
|