English Language Learner KnowledgeBase for Administrators & Teachers

OCR Self-Assessment Guide

The guide is designed as a tool to assist district staff in obtaining a comprehensive overview of the district's practices and procedures with regard to equal educational opportunities for limited-English proficient students. Office for Civil Rights (OCR) staff will also review responses to the guide as part of its Profile, Assessment and Resolution review process.

Student Oral Language Observation Matrix (SOLOM)

The Student Oral Language Observation Matrix (SOLOM) is a rating scale that teachers can use to assess their students' command of oral language on the basis of what they observe on a continuing basis in a variety of situations.

Alternate format: PDF

OCR Self-Assessment Guide - Student Assessment

This assessment guide is to assist school systems to voluntarily comply with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 regarding equal educational opportunities for ELL students. The guide is part of OCR's Region VII office's pilot program to encourage partnership approaches to civil rights compliance. School districts are not required to provide data to OCR in this format. This section of the guide focuses on student assessment.

OCR Self-Assessment Guide - Student Identification

This assessment guide is to assist school systems to voluntarily comply with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 regarding equal educational opportunities for ELL students. The guide is part of OCR's Region VII office's pilot program to encourage partnership approaches to civil rights compliance. School districts are not required to provide data to OCR in this format. This section of the guide focuses on student identification.

Standards and Assessments

This document offers the U.S. Department of Education's draft guidance on the assessment requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act addressing ELL students. The sections provided pertain to ELL and migrant students, as well as flexibility and accountability for ELL students.

Standards for Test Administration

This ETS 2014 resource contains excerpts from the Code of Fair Testing Practices in Education, which lists obligations for informing test takers and/or their parents and guardians about the assessment to be given and the use of the data gathered from the assessment process.

Source: Excerpts from the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testingprepared by the Committee to Develop Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing of the American Educational Research Association, the American Psychological Association, and the National Council on Measurement in Education, 1985. The purpose of the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing is provide criteria for the evaluation of tests, testing practices and the effects of test use. Part VI contain standards regarding test administration, scoring and reporting, as well as standards for the protection of test takers' rights. This excerpt is taken from Chapter 15, Test Administration, Scoring and Reporting.

In typical applications, test administrators should follow carefully the standardized procedures for administration and scoring specified by the test publisher. Specifications regarding instructions to test takers, time limits, the form of item presentation or response and test materials or equipment should be strictly observed. Exemptions should be made only on the basis of carefully considered professional judgment, primarily in clinical applications.

The testing environment should be one of reasonable comfort and with minimal distractions. Testing material should be readable and understandable. In computerized testing, items displayed on a screen should be legible and free from glare, and the terminal should be properly positioned.

Testing sessions should be monitored where appropriate both to assist the test taker when a need arises and to maintain proper administrative procedures. Among the conditions that should be avoided in testing situations are:

• Noise
• Disruption in the testing area
• Extremes of temperature
• Inadequate work space
• Illegible material, and so forth.

In the context of computer-administered tests, the novelty of the presentation may have an unknown effort on the test administration.

Standards for Testing Bilingual Persons

Originally produced by the Evaluation Assistance Center-West, the Standards for Testing Bilingual Persons is a useful resource to share with the school staff members responsible for testing ELL students. Refer to the ERIC/CUE Digest No. 65.

State ELL/Limited English Proficient (LEP) Program Requirements

This table contains links to each state's requirements related to ELL/LEP programs. The material offered defines each state's policy on this subject. Questions about a given state's policy should be addressed to the applicable state department of education.

ELL Accommodations for State Standardized Tests

Some states have policies that allow ELL students to be exempt from participating in state-mandated achievement tests. The material offered defines each state's policy on this subject.

Leveling the Playing Field for English Language Learners: Increasing Participation in State and Local Assessments through Accommodations

This resource from the former Region III Comprehensive Center provides practical guidance for using test preparation strategies with English language learner students as a form of accommodation for standardized tests.

State ELL Assessments

This table contains links to each state's ELL assessment.

The Use of Tests When Making High Stakes Decisions for Students - Test Measurement Principles

This Office for Civil Rights resource guide contains a chapter on test measurement principles as they relate to English language learners.