Changing the way you learn

Issues facing EB/EL assessments

Authentic Assessments
1. Definition: Authentic assessment is a task for a student to perform that may be measured against a rubric for success. Students must demonstrate real-world tasks, rather than call on rote learning.
  1. Example: authentic formative assessment measuring a student's understanding of the socratic method: http://jfmueller.faculty.noctrl.edu/toolbox/examples/boaz17/snowballdiscussion%20(1).pdf
    1. Performing a task
    2. Construction/Application
    3. Student Structured
    4. Direct Evidence
2. "The assessment drives the curriculum" - Jon Mueller
3. authentic assessments allow a student to demonstrate that they don't only know the information, but they know how to apply it.
  1. "Students are able to learn and refine their skills as they are completing authentic assessments." - Jon Mueller
  2. Authentic assessments utilize all learning styles and provide the student freedom in how they complete the task.
Traditional Assessments
1. Definition: tests with multiple choice questions, fill the blank, matching, and other techniques used to measure the degree of success a student has completed a learning objective.
  1. Example: Standardized testing, the AP exam, teacher-created tests
    1. Selecting a response
    2. Call & Response / Recall
    3. Teacher-structured
    4. Indirect Evidence
2. "The curriculum drives the assessment" - Jon Mueller
Authentic and Traditional Assessment complement each other, and can be used in tandem to measure a student's academic growth and the degree to which they have completed a learning objective
1. Content area academic assessments for entering monolingual students should be given in their home language whenever possible, in order to accurately identify their skill level in a given subject.
  1. From a sociocultural standpoint, it is important to value and utilize a student's home language whenever possible in the classroom.
  2. It is also important to assess a student's literacy level in their home language whenever possible, because this affects a student's literacy level in other languages.
    1. story telling
    2. reading a running record
Current federal standards for EB/EL assessments
1. Public institutions are required by federal law to identify and assess EB/EL students in order to appropriately supplement English instruction. However, it does not identify *how* to identify such students.
  1. Methods of identification/assessment:
    1. Home survey
      1. Tells educators whether there are languages at home other than English
      2. Can be culturally biased; some home surveys only consider parents and do not take into account the language of caregivers such as grandparents
    2. Language proficiency assessments
      1. ACCESS
      2. Ballard & Tighe
      3. Language Assessment Scales (LAS)
      4. MAC II
      5. Woodcock-Munoz Language Survey
      6. What to look for in suitable language proficiency assessments
        Does the instrument have a strong theoretical basis?
        Is the assessment accessible to a variety of cultures?
        Is the assessment easy to administer? Is it age appropriate?
        Does it give enough information for program placement?
      7. Individuals who administer proficiency assessments should be highly qualified.
Traditional assessments currently utilized to provide support to EB/EL students and their families
The role of authentic assessments in providing support to EB/EL students and their families
1. Authentic assessments will allow content area and ESL teachers both to measure the completion of learning objectives in a way that is not impeded by a student's proficiency in additional language(s).
  1. The process of creating an authentic assessment -- setting standards, developing authentic tasks, identifying a criteria and creating a rubric -- is a more inclusive way to measure the growth of an EB/EL.
  2. Other concerns to consider when developing assessments for EB/EL students
    1. When the student last attended school
    2. How much schooling the child has had, both in the US and abroad
    3. The standards for age and grade level of the schools students attended outside the US
    4. The type of school the student attended
    5. Types of curriculum the student used
    6. Health info and educational background of the student's caregivers
  3. Artifacts such as portfolios can be used to monitor an EB/EL's progress, particularly when educators are working horizontally across subject areas
    1. Authentic assessments in both productive and receptive skills are invaluable in portfolio formation.
      1. Assessments must be culturally receptive; they cannot assume a student is familiar with Western-centric cultural norms.

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Issues facing EB/EL assessments

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	Created by Anna clinkman almost 5 years ago