English Language Learners with Disabilities Taking English Language Proficiency Assessments

Frequently Asked Questions

1.  Why administer English language proficiency assessments?
2.  Who Takes ELP Assessments?
3.  What relationship do ELP assessments have with regular content assessments?
4.  What if an ELL with a disability has difficulty accessing an ELP assessment?

1. Why administer English language proficiency assessments?

Annual English language proficiency assessments are given to students who have been identified as English language learners in order to track their progress in reading, writing, speaking, listening, and overall comprehension. There are legal and educational reasons for giving these assessments.

In Title I and III, Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), these assessments are mandated to be given as part of the English Language Acquisition, Language Enhancement, and Academic Achievement Act. It requires that an assessment measure a student's proficiency in reading, writing, listening, and speaking, and provide an overall comprehension score. A key purpose for the assessment from an accountability perspective is to ensure that ELLs attain English proficiency so that they may be held to and meet the same challenging achievement standards in content that their peers are expected to meet. With the development of national Common Core State Standards, the majority of ELLs, for the first time, may have their achievement in English proficiency linked to uniform content achievement standards.

The link between ELP assessments and accountability is that the law requires that states set improvement goals for ELLs to meet each year. These goals are called Annual Measures of Academic Objectives (AMAOs). These goals must include the annual number or percentage of ELLs making progress in learning English, as well as the number or percentage of ELLs reaching English proficiency. The law requires that a valid and reliable assessment be used to measure the proficiency levels of students identified as ELLs, whether they receive services or not.

2. Who Takes ELP Assessments?

Even though there is a federal definition of students who are "limited English proficient," also called English language learners, in practice the students considered ELLs may vary across states. They may vary because states have different populations of students, use different ELL identification procedures, use different initial English proficiency assessments, and may have other state specific laws (e.g., laws affecting foreign language exchange students). The federal definition is provided here:

The term 'limited English proficient,' when used with respect to an individual, means an individual−

(A) who is aged 3 through 21;

(B) who is enrolled or preparing to enroll in an elementary school or secondary school;

(C)(i) who was not born in the United States or whose native language is a language other than English; (ii)(I) who is a Native American or Alaska Native, or a native resident of the outlying areas; and (II) who comes from an environment where a language other than English has had a significant impact on the individual's level of English language proficiency; or (iii) who is migratory, whose native language is a language other than English, and who comes from an environment where a language other than English is dominant; and

(D) whose difficulties in speaking, reading, writing, or understanding the English language may be sufficient to deny the individual− (i) the ability to meet the State's proficient level of achievement on State assessments described in section 1111(b)(3); (ii) the ability to successfully achieve in classrooms where the language of instruction is English; or (iii) the opportunity to participate fully in society.

3. What relationship do ELP assessments have with regular content assessments?

English language proficiency assessments are based on separate English language proficiency standards, in reading, writing, listening, and speaking. These language proficiency standards must be "linked" to a state's regular academic content standards, with which a state's regular content assessments are aligned.

With the current shift to developing assessments based on Common Core Standards for academic content areas in reading and mathematics, there is a move among states to ensure that ELP standards-based assessments are similarly linked to the new Common Core State Standards.

4. What if an ELL with a disability has difficulty accessing an ELP assessment?

Some ELLs with disabilities may have challenges in accessing parts of an ELP assessment, such as ELLs with visual impairments or learning disabilities taking a reading assessment. Most states now have accommodation policies for how students may access parts of an ELP assessment, but as with general assessments, sometimes a student may not be able to access the assessment even with accommodations. In these cases, a state may have developed another ELP assessment for those students.

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