Both educators and students in the United States feel the continuous pressure to improve achievement scores as a form of validation for their work and success. However, emerging bilingual (EBs) learners encounter barriers within assessments that break the assumptions of validity, reliability, and fairness and prevent them from demonstrating their…

Dynamic assessment (DA) seeks to understand learners' abilities that are still developing by embedding mediation (i.e., contingent forms of assistance) into the assessment process. To date, DA studies have been carried out primarily in contexts focused on language learning. However, in content classrooms (e.g., science, math), English learners…

Traditionally, content assessments have been carried out through written language. However, the latest standards in U.S. K-12 education expect all students, including English learners (ELs), to demonstrate their content learning using multiple modalities. This study examined the performance of fifth-grade students at varying levels of English…

This Research Brief describes a model developed as an alternative method for making ESOL exit decisions in 2019-2020. Given the cancellation of the 2019-2020 Statewide student assessment, FSA ELA results which are used as one of the two major components for making ESOL exit decisions will not be available, and an alternative method is needed. This…

The population of English learners (ELs) in K-12 schools continues to grow. Between the 2009-10 and 2014-15 school years, the percentage of English learners increased in over half of the states, and in 2017, English learners made up 10.1% of the total student population. Research suggests that in their transition to English, non-native speakers…

Children coming from homes where English is not their first language constitute a significant and increasing proportion of classrooms worldwide. Providing these English-language learners (ELLs) with equitable assessment opportunities is a challenge. We analyze the performance of 485 students, both English-native-speakers (ENSs) and ELLs, across…

In order to accurately assess the English language proficiency of special populations of English learners, student assessment programs must maintain the comparability of standard and modified assessment formats, allowing for equivalent inferences to be made across student classifications. However, given the typically small size of special…

This report is an update of the assessment principles and guidelines for English language learners published in 2013 (Thurlow, Liu, Ward, & Christensen). That report, which was developed by the Improving the Validity of Assessment Results for English Language Learners with Disabilities (IVARED) project, presented essential principles of…

School and district officials responsible for assessing the English Language Proficiency (ELP) of newcomer students (those who are new to formal schooling in the United States) face a dilemma with regards to timing and multiple assessments when those newcomers arrive later in the school year. To determine what states are providing in their Every…

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requires states to outline their academic and English language proficiency goals and provide a detailed proposal for the statewide accountability system in a state ESSA plan. This brief, a collaboration between Achieve and UnidosUS, provides a two-part analysis of states' goals for English learners (ELs) in…

Building upon the theoretical and practical foundation outlined in their previous book, "Educating English Learners", the authors show classroom teachers how to develop a repertoire of instructional techniques that address K-12 English learners (ELs) at different English proficiency and grade levels, and across subject areas. "Show,…

As the theme of the 2022 annual meeting of the American Education Research Association, cultivating equitable education systems has gained renewed attention amid an increasingly diverse society. However, systemic inequalities persist for traditionally underserved student populations. As a way to better address diverse students' needs, it is of…

This paper is the first in a series from Educational Testing Service (ETS) concerning English language proficiency (ELP) assessments for K-12 English learners (ELs). The goal of this paper, and the series, is to present research-based ideas, principles, and recommendations for consideration by those who are conceptualizing, developing, and…

Assessment "as," "for," and "of" learning complement effective curricular and instructional practices, however, the complexities of assessment for multilingual students are too-often overlooked and misunderstood. What if multilingual learners, teachers, and educational leaders all had opportunities to plan for and use…

What if multilingual learners had the freedom to interact in more than one language with their peers during classroom assessment? What if multilingual learners and their teachers in dual language settings had opportunities to use assessment data in multiple languages to make decisions? Just imagine the rich linguistic, academic, and cultural…