Assessing Students Biasing for best in ELL evaluation Testing and Evaluation It is important to hold high expectations for ELLs, as for other students; therefore, ELLs should be expected, as much as possible, to complete all evaluations.  However, schools also have a responsibility to make sure students understand and have a fair chance of displaying their knowledge. Some ways to do that are listed here, and the links below provide many more suggestions. With time, planning and consideration for the learner, there are many ways to make assessment accessible to ESL students, including the following: • Permit students to complete non-language-based assessments that show comprehension of course content. • Provide a range of question types on tests (some of which are not language-dependent). • Use visuals for assessment purposes. • Make project work part of the assessment. • Use simple language in descriptions of assignments. • Pre-teach key vocabulary.  • Write a version of the test in simplified English or provide a gloss for the exam.  For a sample gloss of a Canadian Geography 1202 exam, click here. Other simple steps require no extra time or planning and can easily be incorporated to make existing evaluations more accessible, including the following: • Give ESL students more time. • Let them use a bilingual dictionary. • Model, model, and model again to make sure students know what they have to do. • Make sure they understand the questions. • Have someone help them with question comprehension (peer, teacher) on tests. • Understand that unless a child is grossly misplaced in a content class, he or she WILL be able to do something. • Provide review sheets prior to the evaluation. • Do not penalize students for lack of English language ability. • Don't take off points for language mistakes in content-area assessments. • Increase the weighting on non-linguistic portions of assessments for ESL students. • Accept non-linguistic answers to questions. Resources • Assessment for ELLs in Ontario Schools Grades 1—8 Pages 61—63 of this document, Supporting ELLs: A Practical Guide for Ontario Educators, prepared by the Ontario Ministry of Education give general guidelines on how to prepare and conduct assessments as, of and for, learning with ELLs. • Educating ELLs: Understanding and Using Assessment Page 30 of this comprehensive document on assessment presents a chart listing a complete range of potential accommodations for ELLs, including first language, English and non-linguistic accommodations.  The document itself is written for the context of standardized testing in the US, but these accommodations are applicable anywhere. • Assessing ELLs in Mainstream or ESL Classrooms: Quick Fixes for Busy Teachers Again, written for the US context, this short document lists some useful strategies for assessing ELLs fairly, including accommodations in test preparation, during the test itself and in grading. • ESL Learners: A Guide for the Classroom—Planning with ESL in Mind The short section on assessment in this document from BC makes three crucial points about ELLs and testing: 1) selected response tests are difficult, 2) ELLs need more time and 3) studying/testing is exhausting for ELLs.  For more, read Assessing, Evaluating and Reporting on Student Progress (under the sixth sub-heading) in this document. • Assessment in the Multicultural School This two-page document, available from the ESL Infusion website at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education is a checklist of ways to accommodate assessments for ESL students.   It is a good starting point for evaluating ELLs fairly. • Organizing and Assessing in the Content-Area Class This short document addresses some issues of teaching and lists a dozen concrete suggestions for accommodating ELLs on assessments. Want more? • Assessment of ELLs This 45-minute webcast gives extensive information about all aspects of assessment of ELLs, including assessment upon arrival.  Much of the information is presented in the context of compulsory standardized testing in the US, but some of the general information is relevant to the Newfoundland context.  Check Sections 2 and 3 on the Characteristics of ELLs and Section 10 on Inappropriate Assessments. • Practical Ideas on Alternative Assessments for ESL Students This two-page article presents five broad strategies for evaluating ELLs. © 2010 Eastern School District Information and content by Martha Trahey