The Houston Independent School District (HISD) currently offers five bilingual programs and two English as a Second Language (ESL) programs for English language learners (ELLs). These programs are intended to facilitate ELL students' integration into the regular school curriculum and to ensure access to equal educational opportunities. This…

This article reports on the implementation of diagnostic assessment in an advanced Spanish language program at the university level. Particular attention is given to the use of dynamic assessment practices as a way to assess language abilities, intervene in learning, and document learners' growth. Dynamic assessment is conceptually based on…

This study examined the effects of offering Head Start to preschoolers. Head Start is a federal program aimed at boosting the school readiness of low-income children by providing preschool education and health and nutrition services. The study analyzed data on about 4,700 preschool-aged children who applied for enrollment for the 2002-03 program…

The increasing linguistic diversity among both international and domestic students in English-medium universities creates new challenges for the institutions in addressing the students' needs in the area of academic literacy. In order to identify students with such needs, a major New Zealand university has implemented the Diagnostic English…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe how and why Texas A&M University at Qatar (TAMUQ) has developed a system aiming to effectively place students in freshman and developmental English programs. The placement system includes: triangulating data from external test scores, with scores from a panel-marked hand-written essay (HWE),…

Presents an adaptable, context-sensitive model for ESL/EFL program evaluation, consisting of seven steps that guide an evaluator through consideration of relevant issues, information, and design elements. Examples from an evaluation of the Reading for Science and Technology Project at the University of Guadalajara, Mexico are given. (31…

The prekindergarten (pre-K) program is an important part of the systemic effort by the Austin Independent School District, Texas (AISD) to help every student meet the state's student performance standards. In 2000-2001, 41 of the district's schools offering pre-K (79% of all elementary schools) had full-day programs and 17 had half-day programs. A…

The Austin Independent School District (AISD) prekindergarten program is an important component of the state and district goal of having every student reading on grade level by the end of third grade. In 1999-2000, 57 of the 71 AISD elementary schools provided prekindergarten education. The AISD prekindergarten program served 3,571 4-year-olds.…

This paper considers the role of tests in evaluating the effectiveness of a government-funded initiative to teach heritage languages in selected Australian schools. External evaluations were commissioned by the central educational authority and included a pre-and post-test requirement, although the nature and purpose of the tests was not…

The Listening Summary Translation Exam (LSTE)-Spanish is designed to assess the ability to comprehend and summarize in written English recorded conversations spoken in Spanish. Language and topics of the exam are representative of conversations the Federal Bureau of Investigation routinely monitors. This test consists of two subtests, one…

This report summarizes program evaluation information for the AISD bilingual and English as a second language programs for the 2004-2005 school year.

This participant's handbook for a workshop on selecting evaluation designs for bilingual programs presents group activities to facilitate learning about the selection process. The objectives of the workshop are to (1) identify the implied comparisons associated with frequently encountered evaluation questions, (2) select the most appropriate…

A discussion of the role of second language proficiency assessment in the evaluation of language programs argues that for four reasons, the use of proficiency is inappropriate as a central element in evaluation. The reasons are: (1) the construct of proficiency has not been operationalized in a way that enables it to be used usefully; (2)…

This report is a summary of the review of the Defense Language Institute (DLI) that was made by the General Accounting Office (GAO) at the request of a member of Congress. The objectives of the study were to identify and analyze significant internal DLI problems that diminish the overall effectiveness of the language training provided there.…

This leader's manual for a workshop on planning bilingual student assessment describes the workshop, presents information necessary to provide instruction leading to workshop exercises, and provides step-by-step instructions for conducting the workshop. The workshop leader should become familiar with this manual as well as with the workshop text…