Assessment Accommodations for English Language Learners: Implications for Policy-Based Empirical Research By: Erin Burns

Who are English Language Learners? A student who is learning the English language in addition to their own native language o English is not their first language o Some of these students have recently immigrated to the U.S. o Others are born here These students comprise 4.6 million public school students in the United States o The majority are Spanish speakers, Vietnamese, Hmong, Cantonese and Korean

What is an Accommodation? An alteration of curriculum or other materials in the classroom o This is not the same as a modification A complete change in curriculum or materials Some common accommodations may include: o Extra time on a test o An alteration of the test format o An alteration of a handout o Removing thought to be irrelevant information on a test

Who Uses these Accommodations? Students with IEPs or 504s ELL students most commonly use test accommodations o An accommodation made to a standardized test or assessment in order to fully monitor what they know 37 of 40 states allow assessment accommodations for ELL students o Individual states have different eligibility criteria for who receives assessment accommodations and who does not o This is a controversial issue

Common Assessment Accommodations for ELL Students Test in student’s native language Linguistic Modification of Test Items o Rewording test items to decrease the effect of content vocabulary confusion Extra Time on Assessments o The most common accommodation Glossary and Customized Dictionary Oral Administration of Assessments o Either in English or the student’s native language o Oral Administration of the test itself or directions

Do these Accommodations Work? Tests in student’s native language o Does it work? Research shows validity issues in effective translation from one language to another Some information gets lost This is not an effective accommodation Linguistic Modification of Test Items o Does it work? Research shows that this is an effective accommodation Rewording a few items on an assessment can make a big impact on a students performance Extra Time on Assessments o Does it work? Research is inconclusive on this data due to the difference in proficiency of students

Do these Accommodations Work? Glossary and Customized Dictionary o Does it work? Research shows that both ELL students and English Learners performed significantly better when given a brief glossary or dictionary Oral Administration of Assessments o Does it work? Research was inconclusive for this accommodation Teachers could give unintentional cues about answers through voice rate, body language..etc

What Does this Mean? These assessment accommodations are so common and some not effective that: o Students are passed through without fully understanding the content o Students are unable to pass the class and move up a grade o Students become frustrated with learning and drop out of school

Effective Assessment Accommodations for ELL Students All accommodations should be research based Linguistic Modification of Test Items o Rewording complex content based words on assessments Glossary and Customized Dictionary o Effective accommodation for all learners Visuals o Giving visuals along with the word is a great way to get ELL students engaged with the content Restate the directions in their own words o An effective way for students to fully understand what is being asked of them on an assessment

Works Cited Jamal, Carolyn, Huie, and Carol Lord Review of Educational Research, (Spring, 2004) Vol. 74, No. 1 pp Retrieved April 14, 2014 from JSTOR database