1. Four Levels of Assessment
MODULE F
Four Levels of Assessment

2. Four Levels of Assessment
Screening
Benchmark/Formative
Diagnostic
Summative/Annual
There are four levels of assessment that will be presented in this module. Each level of assessment provides different types of information and informs different stakeholders.

3. Screening for Language Needs
Assessment of Home Language
English Language Proficiency (K-12)
This slide shows the screening process which was discussed in greater depth in Module A.
Before beginning any of the four levels of assessment, you need to consider the language background and needs of your students.
If they are non-native English speakers, try to provide appropriate assessments in their native language, if available. If tests are unavailable in students’ native language, then use informal assessment measures, e.g. language sample, oral story retelling. Refer to Module A handouts for samples of these specific examples.

4. At any time when a student needs to be screened
Screening Assessment
Assessment Level
Tool
Grade
Levels(s)
Administered
Screening: a brief procedure designed as a first step in identifying children who may be designated as needing English Language services.
What were the screening tools shared in Module A?
What screening tool is your district using?
N.J.A.C. 6A:15-1.3(a)2
Develop a screening process, initiated by a home-language survey, to determine which students in kindergarten to 12th grade, of those whose native language is other than English, must be tested to determine English language proficiency. The screening shall be conducted by a bilingual/ESL or other certified teacher, and shall be designed to distinguish students who are proficient English speakers and need no further testing.
W-APT
K-12
At any time when a student needs to be screened
WIDA-MODEL
Screening level assessment provides a quick snapshot of students.
ALL students should be screened
This information is relevant to administrators and teachers for program planning.
This information is also relevant for classroom-level planning for teachers.

5. Analyze & Reflect - Screening
What screening assessments are currently used in your district?
Which stakeholders are informed by this type of assessment? (Consider not who should be informed by the assessment, but how it is being used in your district.)
How are the screening assessment results shared with general education teachers working with ELLs?
Handout Folder – Four Levels of Assessment Worksheet and highlighters: Participants will begin a worksheet that allows them to write in the assessments the district is currently using for each of the four levels. They will complete only the screening assessment at this point.
ACTIVITY: Using the completed section of the worksheet (for screening only), look for gaps or problems with how screening assessment is used in the district. Are the appropriate stakeholders receiving the information and are they using it effectively? Use highlighters to identify the gaps or problems that your district may have for this type of assessment.
This handout and activity will be used again for each of the other levels.

6. Benchmark/Formative Assessment
Assessment Level
Tool
Grade
Level(s)
Administered
Benchmark/Formative: An assessment that evaluates children’s learning based on systematic observations by teachers of children performing academic tasks that are part of their daily classroom experience and is used to improve instruction. This assessment should be aligned to the curriculum (which is aligned to the ELD and/or the NJ State Standards).
WIDA Rubrics
K-12
Local Decision
N.J.A.C. 6A: (b)& (c) – (b) Each district board of education shall send progress reports to parent(s) of students enrolled in bilingual, ESL, or English language services programs in the same manner and frequency as progress reports are sent to parent(s) of other students enrolled in the school district.
(c) Progress reports shall be written in English and in the native language of parent(s) of students enrolled in the bilingual and ESL program unless it can be demonstrated and documented in the three-year plan required in N.J.A.C. 6A: (a) that the requirement would place an unreasonable burden on the district board of education.
Locally
Devised
MODEL
Benchmark/Formative Assessment is a process used by teachers and students as part of instruction that provides feedback to adjust ongoing teaching and learning to improve students’ achievement of core content. Formative assessments must be individualized for students according to their English proficiency. As assessment for learning, formative assessment practices provide students with clear learning targets, examples and models of strong and weak work, regular descriptive feedback, and the ability to self-assess, track learning, and set goals.
To provide teachers with a systematic means of evaluating student performance
To evaluate student learning of academic tasks that are part of their daily classroom experiences
To inform instruction
To improve instruction
Some examples of benchmark/formative assessments are:
Questioning
Observations,
Discussions
WIDA Rubrics
Locally devised

7. Benchmark/Formative Assessment
Progress monitoring
Benchmarks
Portfolios
Rubrics
Progress monitoring is a term that means the same as ongoing, but you may see it interchangeably.
Benchmarks but must be aligned to ELD Standards ( and the New Jersey State Standards ( – develop a system by which you are going to address the standards in your classroom. Don’t just plan to hit them haphazardly or use the core to address them all. Core programs, while aligned to the New Jersey State Standards, will not cover them all in-depth and may not address the specific needs of your students
Portfolios: There are all different kinds of portfolios but in this instance, we are discussing a portfolio that includes a collection of student work artifacts that show progress over time.
Rubrics: For writing and other projects, districts should also use the WIDA language proficiency rubrics, and these scores from rubrics can be included in portfolios.

8. Analyze & Reflect - Benchmark/Formative
What benchmark/formative forms of assessment are currently being used in your district?
Which stakeholders are informed by this type of assessment? (Consider not who should be informed by the assessment, but how it is being used in your district.)
How are the benchmark/formative assessment results shared with general education teachers working with ELLs?
Handout Folder – Four Levels of Assessment Worksheet and highlighters: Continue using the worksheet and complete the benchmark/formative section.
ACTIVITY: Using the completed section of the worksheet (for benchmark/formative assessments), look for gaps or problems with how benchmark/formative assessments are used in the district. Are there too few or too many assessments? Are the appropriate stakeholders receiving the information and are they using it effectively? Use the highlighters to identify the gaps or problems in this section.
This worksheet and activity will be used again for the remaining two levels of assessment.

9. Diagnostic Assessment
Assessment Level
Administered
Diagnostic: An assessment that is valid, reliable.
Identifying a child’s specific areas of strengths and weaknesses.
As needed
N.J.A.C.6A: (e) - Newly exited students who are not progressing in the mainstream English program may be considered for reentry to bilingual and ESL programs as follows:
1. After a minimum of one-half an academic year and within two years of exit, the mainstream English classroom teacher may recommend retesting with the approval of the principal.
2. A waiver of the minimum time limitation may be approved by the executive county superintendent upon request of the chief school administrator if the student is experiencing extreme difficulty in adjusting to the mainstream program.
3. The recommendation for retesting shall be based on the teacher’s judgment that the student is experiencing difficulties due to problems in using English as evidenced by the student’s inability to: communicate effectively with peers and adults; understand directions given by the teacher; and/or comprehend basic verbal and written materials.
4. The student shall be tested using a different form of the test or a different language proficiency test than the one used to exit the student.
5. If the student scores below the State-established standard on the language proficiency test, the student shall be reenrolled into the bilingual or ESL program.
Diagnostic assessments are not given to every student.
When a student shows a need and SEVERAL interventions have been provided and the student continues to show a need, a diagnostic assessment may be used to gain additional information.
If a student has been exited and is being considered for reentry into the bilingual/ESL program you can use the link of language proficiency assessments on the bilingual website for guidance (
Screening assessments test many things in a general format – when you detect a problem on a screening AND provide several interventions and a problem persists, then you would give a diagnostic assessment which would take that sub-skill and assess in greater depth.

10. Analyze & Reflect – Diagnostic
What diagnostic assessments are currently being used in your district?
Which stakeholders are informed by this type of assessment? (Consider not who should be informed by the assessment, but how it is being used in your district.)
How are the diagnostic assessment results shared with general education teachers working with ELLs?
Handout Folder - Four levels of Assessment Worksheet and highlighters: Continue using the worksheet and complete the diagnostic section.
ACTIVITY: Using the completed section of the worksheet (for diagnostic assessments), look for gaps or problems with how diagnostic assessments are used in the district. Are there too few or too many assessments? Are the appropriate stakeholders receiving the information and are they using it effectively? Use the highlighters to identify the gaps or problems in this section.
This worksheet and activity will be used again for the last level of assessment.

11. Summative Assessment
Assessment Level
Tool
Grade Level(s)
Administered
Summative: An outcome assessment that is State-approved, norm-referenced and/or criterion-referenced.
ACCESS FOR ELLs 2.0
K-12
End of the Year
PARCC
3-11
Terra Nova ed./any norm-referenced or criterion referenced standardized test
(Also available in Spanish)
ANY GRADES
NAEP – National Assessment of Educational Progress
Grades 4, 8 and 12
ACCESS for ELLs 2.0 monitors student progress in acquiring academic English and is aligned to the WIDA ELD standards. ACCESS for ELLs 2.0 serves as one of multiple measures to determine whether students are prepared to exit ELL programs.

12. Why Summative Assessments?
Provides district level information
Depending on the assessment, you may be able to compare students to peers statewide and/or nationwide
Allows for school-district comparison
Generates questions concerning programs and curriculum
Identifies patterns of student performance within various subgroups
Be very careful using only the results of summative assessments for placement in programs – consider multiple sources of assessment and not just one measure.
These assessment are useful for programmatic decisions – what seems to be working, what’s not working in your curriculum?
Summative assessments are a snapshot of information at a given point of time.
Look at populations and subgroups – for example, which subgroups may need more supports or how curricula may need to be modified to address these groups of students.

13. Analyze & Reflect - Summative
What summative assessments are currently being used in your district?
Which stakeholders are informed by this type assessment? (Consider not who should be informed by the assessment, but how it is being used in your district.)
How are the summative assessment results shared with general education teachers working with ELLs?
Handout Folder - Four Levels of Assessment Worksheet Handout and highlighters: Continue using the worksheet to complete the summative section.
ACTIVITY: Using the completed section of the worksheet (for summative assessments), look for gaps or problems with how summative assessments are used in the district. Are the appropriate stakeholders receiving the information and are they using it effectively? Use the highlighters provided to identify the gaps or problems in this section.

14. Goal-Setting & Planning
Take a look at all of the highlighted areas of need on your completed worksheet.
Identify the most significant areas of need for your particular district.
Select three goals for the upcoming year based on your identified district needs.
Strategize the steps to reaching those goals.
Complete SMART Goal Worksheet indicating steps you will take this year to complete your goals.
Handout Folder: SMART Goal Worksheet. Participants should look at the highlighted areas on their Four Levels of Assessment Worksheet and identify three significant areas of need to set as their goals for the upcoming year. As participants strategize their actions to accomplish the goals, they can complete the worksheet. If the opportunity applies, participants may want to discuss their goals with colleagues for support in planning.

15. Here ends Module F

16. Contact Information
Please with any questions or comments you may have regarding this module.