LEP Assessment: Ensuring LEP Students Receive Appropriate Accommodation Support

1. LEP Assessment: Ensuring LEP Students Receive Appropriate Accommodation Support May 4, 2010 1:00-2:30 ET Annual Title III Directors Meeting Melissa Gholson, Office of Assessment, Accountability, and Research, WVDE Lynn Shafer Willner, Ph.D., GW-CEEE

2. Presentation Objectives • Understand the national and West Virginia context concerning LEP student inclusion and accommodation • Understand recent refinements to Guidelines for Including and Accommodating LEP Students • Understand the new monitoring procedures for ensuring accommodations are offered during testing • Are familiar with the location of LEP accommodation resources

3. 1. National and West Virginia Context Concerning LEP Student Inclusion and Accommodation

4. National Context • LEP student exclusion rates in early 1990s as high as 44% • Standards-based reform and legislation require states to be accountable for the progress of LEP students. • Passage of NCLB (2002) 4

5. Inclusion and Accommodation of LEP Students in the WESTEST: True or False Quiz • All LEP students participate in 100% of the WESTEST. • LEP students can be excluded from Reading/Language Arts assessments for 3 years. • If an LEP student does not have documentation that outlines the accommodations they must receive during regular instruction (such as an IEP), they are not allowed to use accommodations during testing.

6. Guidelines for LEP Student Participation • All LEP students must participate in WV-MAP assessments. • Students with negligible English proficiency (e.g. students who have recently arrived in the United States) must be given an opportunity to attempt WV-MAP assessments. This can be accomplished by: • Individual administration • Provision of all assigned accommodations • Stopping the assessment if the student provides no response to any portion • Stopping the assessment if the student indicates (in native language or English) an inability to attempt or continue the test

7. Offer LEP Students Accommodated Support During Testing An accommodation (definition)... • involves changes to testing procedures, testing materials, or the testing situation in order to allow students meaningful participation in an assessment. • addresses the unique linguistic and socio-cultural needs of the student without altering the test construct. • results in scores that are sufficiently equivalent in scale that they can be pooled with unaccommodated scores.

8. ELL-Responsive Accommodations Offer Linguistic Support • Direct Linguistic Support • Involve adjustments to the text of the assessment with the intent of reducing the linguistic load necessary to access the content of the test. • Can be delivered in English or the native language • Indirect Linguistic Support • Involve adjustments to the conditions under which a test is taken to allow LEP students to more efficiently use their linguistic resources.

9. Comparison of National and West Virginia Trends

10. Range of accommodation support allowed in state policy

11. Range of LEP Student Accommodations Offered by States During Testing AK WA ME MT ND VT MN OR NH MA ID WI NY SD RI WY MI CT PA NJ IA NE NV OH DE IN IL DC UT MD CO WV VA KS MO CA KY HI NC Number of AccommodationsStates 2 to 6 5 8 to 25 38 27 to 57 8 TN AZ OK AR SC NM GA AL MS TX LA FL • 104 different accommodations offered to LEP students across nation; • Only 40 are potentially ELL-responsive.

12. Range of Accommodation Support Allowed in West Virginia Policy • 14 accommodations • Range of oral and written support • Support for beginning, intermediate, and advanced ELP levels

13. Most common (and least common) types of accommodations

14. Most Common ELL-Responsive Accommodations Allowed in State Policies

15. Preliminary Data: Most Common Accommodations Used by LEP students

16. Preliminary Data: Use of Reference Materials and ScribingAccommodations

17. LEP student accommodation rates

18. Nationally, Wide Range of Accommodation Rates for LEP Students 2007 NAEP Trial Urban District Assessment

19. Preliminary Data on WV LEP Student Accommodation Rates • Of the 1486 LEP students in West Virginia, accommodation data for 480 LEP students gathered (32%) • However, of remaining 1006 students, don’t know if not accommodated or data not recorded

20. Preliminary LEP Student Acc. Rates for All 55 WV Counties

21. Preliminary LEP Student Acc. Rates for Counties with More than 10 LEP Sts

22. Future Development: Questions and Survey Examining LEP Student Accommodations 1. Question for data collected:What type of accommodation support was offered... • by grade level? • by test? • by ELP level? • by student home language? 2. Gather Feedback about Test Administration from County Test Coordinator and Title III Director, Principal and Building Level Coordinator, and/or Examiner

23. 2. Recent Refinements to West Virginia Participation Guidelines

24. Challenge 1: LEP Sutdents Vary Across a Wide Range of Background Variables

25. Challenge 2: Matching Accommodations to ELP Level Advanced ELP ability to use ELP Level need for Beginning ELP Number of Appropriate Accommodations Available

26. New Participation Guidelines: Knowing the Questions to Ask When Assigning Accommodations A) What is the LEP student‘s English language proficiency level according to WESTELL? B) Can the student read or write proficiently in his/her native language? C) Consider other student background characteristics such as (a) time in the U.S., (b) student‘s affective needs, (c) student‘s academic capacity, (d) age/ maturity, (e) socio-cultural background and (f) transitory or migrant status.

27. Consider Offering • Scribing support • Scribe writes outline or plan exactly as student dictates • St. may review and edit what scribe has written - only after the st. provides spelling • Cannot change/modify the assessment (spelling or mechanics of test) • Bilingual word-to-word dictionaries • Rationale: Offer support with the language of the assessment without providing full definition.

28. 3. New Monitoring Procedures for Ensuring LEP Students Offered Accommodations During the Assessment

29. Assuring Accommodations: Three Roles • County Test Coordinator and Title III Director • Principal and Building Level Coordinator • Examiner

30. 1. County Test Coordinator and Title III Director Responsibilities • Print and verify WVS. LPT as correct (2 weeks prior to testing) • Examine returned reports and investigate any incident where accommodations were not provided. (1 week after testing) • Submit investigations to OAAR (30 days)

31. Monitoring of Accommodations for LEP Students • Two weeks prior to WESTEST 2 including Online Writing or APTA administration, the County Test Coordinator will request the Title III Director to run the report labeled WVS. LPT. • The Title III Director will distribute the WVS. LPT to the school principals • Principals will use the WVS. LPT to assign examiners for WESTEST 2 or APTA, as well as document that student accommodations were provided during administration. • Procedures are found in the Participation Guidelines

32. 2. Principal & Building Level Coordinator (CTC) Responsibilities • Distribute lists to examiners prior to testing • Monitor accommodations provision • Return (signed and dated) reports back to CTC and/or Title III Director (no later than one week after test)

33. 3. Examiner Responsibilities • Review accommodations for each child and plan prior to test • Document the provision of each accommodation, sign, date the form. • Return completed forms to principal after testing is complete. • Report irregularities as soon as they occur. • Give form back to Building Principal to give to the County Test coordinator. Copy will be given to County Title III Director.

34. WVS. LPT. WVEIS Number Student Name School Number Grade Level 280019422 ALDRINS CHARLES A 402 07 WVEIS Accommodation Code WVEIS Code Descriptor P27Use approved bilingual word-to-word dictionary (except WESTEST 2 R/LA) P02* Read aloud test verbatim (except WESTEST 2 R/LA) R02Indicate responses to a scribe (for all selected-response items and WESTEST 2) T04Use extra time for any text Refused – student embarrassed; didn’t want to seem different from classmates during testing Examiner Signature & Date

35. 4. Where to Locate Resources on LEP Student Accommodations

36. Resources on the Web • Participation Guidelines (and link to WV Connections Web site http://wvconnections.k12.wv.us/documents/LEPAssessmentParticipationForm030210.doc • Role of the LEP Committeehttp://wvconnections.k12.wv.us/toolkit.html • National Perspectives on LEP Student Accommodation Research and Practices http://ells.ceee.gwu.edu/

37. Questions or Comments?

38. Thank You 38

39. References Acosta, B., Rivera, C., & Shafer Willner, L. (2008). Best practices in state assessment policies for accommodating English language learners: A Delphi study. Arlington, VA: The George Washington University Center for Equity and Excellence in Education. Available from http://ells.ceee.gwu.edu/. Francis, D., Lesaux, N., Kieffer, M., & Rivera, H. (2006). Research-based recommendations for the use of accommodations in large-scale assessments. Houston, TX: Center on Instruction. Retrieved October 10, 2007, from http://www.centeroninstruction.org/files/ELL3-Assessments.pdf. Kopriva, Emick, Hipolito-Delgado, and Cameron (2007). Do Proper Accommodations Assignments Make a Difference? Examining the Impact of Improved Decision Making on Scores for English Language Learners. Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice, 26 (3), 11-20. Pennock-Roman, M. & Rivera, C. (2007). The Differential Effects of Time on Accommodated vs. Unaccommodated Content Assessments for English Language Learners. Rivera, C., Acosta, B. & Shafer Willner, L. (2008). Guide for the refinement of state assessment policies for accommodating ELLs. Arlington, VA: The George Washington University Center for Equity and Excellence in Education. Rivera, C., Collum, E., Shafer Willner, L., & Sia Jr., J. K. (2006). An analysis of state assessment policies addressing the accommodation of English language learners. in C. Rivera & E. Collum (Eds.) State Assessment Policy and Practice for English Language Learners: A National Perspective. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. Shafer Willner, L., Rivera, C., & Acosta, B. (2008). Descriptive study of state assessment policies for accommodating English language learners. Arlington, VA: The George Washington University Center for Equity and Excellence in Education. 39