OELPS & OELPA
English learners are students whose primary or home language is other than English who need special language assistance in order to effectively participate in school instructional programs. Please see the Ohio Department of Education's website for more information regarding English learners.
Ohio English Language Proficiency Screener (OELPS)
The OELPS is required to be given to students who might be English language learners who are enrolling in an Ohio public school. The OELPS must be administered with 30 days of enrollment at the beginning of the year or within two weeks of enrollment during the school year.
When enrolling the student, schools use the Language Usage Survey to identify students' language experiences and educational backgrounds, as well as the communication preferences of parents and guardians. After identifying potential English learners with the Language Usage Survey, schools assess these students' English language proficiency using the OELPS.
The OELPS is a tool for determining English learner eligibility for students entering Kindergarten through Grade 12. The OELPS is an assessment of a student's English language proficiency in the domains of Listening, Reading, Writing, and Speaking. The test questions are based on the English Language Proficiency (ELP) standards adopted by the ELPA21 member states.
The results of the OELPS are used to determine whether students qualify as English learners eligible to participate in the school's language instruction educational program. Students identified as English learners are then required to take the Ohio English Language Proficiency Assessment (OELPA) in the Spring of each school year until they score out of English learner status. Students receive a performance level of 1-5 in the areas of Listening, Reading, Writing, and Speaking. The levels are Beginning, Early Intermediate, Intermediate, Early Advanced, Advanced. Students also receive two composite scores: a comprehension score for specifically listening and reading; and an overall score that comprises all four domains.
Ohio English Language Proficiency Assessment (OELPA)
Students in Kindergarten through twelfth grade that are identified as English Learners (EL) are required to take the OELPA Assessment.
The OELPA is administered in the Spring of each school year and is an online assessment.
The OELPA is an English language proficiency test composed of four domains/tests which measure a student's English skills in the four language domains: listening, reading, writing, and speaking. The OELPA was developed by the English Language Proficiency Assessment for the 21st Century (ELPA21) consortium.
Students receive a numeric performance level for each of the four domain tests taken. The test performance levels for each of the four domain tests are: Level 1- Beginning, Level 2- Early Intermediate, Level 3- Intermediate, Level 4- Early Advanced, and Level 5- Advanced. The performance levels are used to determine an overall performance level. There are three overall performance levels established by ELPA 21: Proficient, Progressing, and Emerging. Each EL student must take the OELPA annually until earning a Proficient score and being exited from the program. The performance level cut points are as follows: Proficient means a student scored any combination of level 4s and 5s on the four tests; Progressing means the student scored a combination of levels that did not allow the student to be considered Proficient or Emerging; Emerging means a students scored any combination of 1s and 2s on the four tests.