Assessments
ESL ASSESSMENT guidelines
In order to qualify for ESL funding from Alberta Education and pass an ESL Funding audit, here are a few guidelines:
An assessment of language proficiency must be administered to ELLs once per year to support the ESL Code.
The Alberta K-12 ESL Proficiency Benchmarks are not a mandated assessment tool.
A range of standardized assessments can be used.
The Benchmarks can be used in conjunction with verbal, written and/or picture prompts. Teachers should keep running notes of examples of vocabulary, grammatical structures and sentences understood and used by students.
When Benchmarks are used as part of an assessment protocol, either the full copy of the Benchmarks OR the Tracking Sheets must be used (either in hardcopy or digital format). Locally developed summary sheets or the Benchmarks Division Level Summaries can be used, but they are not substitutes for the full length Benchmarks or Tracking Sheets.
When a school uses the Alberta K-12 ESL Proficiency Benchmarks consistently throughout the year to monitor the language proficiency of a student, the marked up/annotated Benchmarks or Benchmarks Tracking Sheets (or digital equivalent) finalized in late May or in June of the previous school year can be used to fulfill the funding manual’s requirement of an annual assessment at the beginning of the new school year, providing that the student stays in the same grade-level division and, therefore, continues to be monitored on the same set of Benchmarks.
For more details, view the posted document.
This list of 'A, B & C' assessments may be available in your school but check to see which ones require specialized assessment training before being administered. Click hyperlinked title to view the document.
It is important to put in place consistent assessment practices at the school and district level so students are correctly placed and language growth can be easily tracked.
Observations
Refer to your school's Intake Information Form (completed with a staff member and the newcomer family)
Classroom observations
How are ELLs responding to the teacher?
Are they able to participate in group work?
Stress that the teacher is the best person to do these informal assessments - they see the student in more situations, know the learner best, leads to more accurate data than a formal 30 min pull-out assessment
Training teachers to administer the Benchmark
Teachers and administrators may feel that an ESL lead or a district level consultant is the best person to administer Benchmark assessments to ELLs. However, a classroom teacher is often a far better choice. The teacher may observe discreet skills or attempts made that might not be as evident to another assessor who does not know the child. Furthermore, children who are being tested by an adult with whom they have a daily working relationship will be more at ease and comfortable to take risks and show what they know and can do as opposed to being assessed by an unknown or lesser know adult.
Initially, it can be helpful to have an ESL lead co-assess with the classroom teacher. The ESL lead can guide teachers to know what to look for, to be aware of multi-step directions and build their proficiency and consistency.
Learn Alberta has a number of support tools in place to guide teachers through Benchmark assessments:
language Proficiency Benchmarks with Examples, AB ED
Gr 4-6 ESL Benchmarks.pdfKindergarten ESL Benchmarks .pdfGr 7-9 ESL Benchmarks.pdfGr 1-3 ESL Benchmarks.pdfGr 10-12 ESL Benchmarks.pdfelementary decoding assessments
Student Decoding sheet Div. I.pdfAssessor Decoding sheet Div. I.pdfStudent Decoding Sheet Div. 2.pdfAssessor Decoding Sheet Div 2.pdfOral Language Screeners (Calgary board of education)
Picture Division One Oral Language Screener.pdfOral Indicator of ELP Division I.pdfPicture Prompt Division II.pdfOral Indicator of ELP Division II.pdfPicture Prompt Division III.pdfOral Indicator of ELP Division III.pdfPicture Prompt Division IV.pdfOral Indicator of ELP Division IV.pdfPerformance Indicators for Div 1 & 2
Edmonton Catholic Schools
The following two documents were created to assist teachers with writing comments for report cards at the elementary level with respect to their progress in language acquisition. They were compiled from the Alberta Education K-12 ESL Proficiency Benchmarks in order to keep the integrity of the language levels and to assist teachers in utilizing standardized language and accuracy with respect to language acquisition.
These two documents can also been considered for use for ELLs that have PLP/IPPs to focus on smart goals that are attainable with respect to the ELLs’ level of language proficiency when adapting tasks, lesson delivery, assignments, projects, or assessments.
Div 1Benchmarks Indicators.pdfDiv 2 Benchmarks Indicators.pdfWhat happens if students appear to be "incorrectly" assessed?
Are all students a Level 5? The risk is that we overestimate skills. Reassess ELLs to confirm validity.
Train all stakeholders (teachers, students and parents) that Benchmark expectations change and become more complex each year. It is possible that an ELL is at Level 4 in Grade 3, but they could drop to a Level 3 in Grade 4. Start with the student writing sample http://www.learnalberta.ca/content/eslapb/writing_samples.html and compare to exemplars. This often leads to a clearer understanding of the benchmark. From there, the target level can be more accurately identified and learning goals can be set.
Setting Learning Goals and Reporting Achievement
Reporting Progress Report Cards
ESL Report Card Support Document 17-18ELL Report Card Support Document 2018Report Card Comments ECSD Sample File Integrity
This checklist provides September and June protocols depending on when schools decide to Benchmark their students.
Checklist for File Integrity of Documents for ELLs for September 30th Audit Purposes copy.pdf