Ohio State Tests

Ohio State Tests for EL students, K-12

EL students are required to participate in all state-mandated tests, although they are allowed certain accommodations. These accommodations should be decided by the student's EL teacher and written in the student's EL plan prior to testing.

Click here to view a list of Ohio's State Tests

A detailed list of available accommodations for EL students on Ohio's State Tests can be found on the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce's Accessibility for Ohio's State Tests page. The purpose of these accommodations is to allow a more accurate demonstration of their knowledge of the content being assessed (Ohio Accessibility Manual).

What is allowed?

It is important to note that not every available accommodation is appropriate for every EL student and that not every accommodation is available for every assessment. Reviewing the student's EL plan and the allowable accommodations is of vital importance when testing an EL student. This list below gives a brief summary of the available accommodations in Ohio's accessibility manual. The accommodations in red are those most common.

Dual monitors are allowable as an accommodation to facilitate human read-aloud and oral translation of the test. The interpreter or translator should face the student while looking at a second screen that mirrors the student's testing screen.

Extended time is appropriate for English learners of all English proficiency levels. ODEW recommends that extended time be defined for students and not left open-ended. This accommodation is usually expressed as one and half time (1.5x) or double time (2x). Decisions around extended time must be made on a case-by-case basis for each student.

Reading access for online test is only an allowable accommodation for math, science, and social studies, unless the student also has an IEP or 504 that documents the need for a human reader. Reading access may be provided by text-to-speech or a human reader.

Oral translation of the test is only an allowable accommodation for math, science, and social studies, Only the test directions of the English Language Arts tests may be translated. Oral translation is appropriate for English learners with beginning English proficiency and some English learners with intermediate English proficiency, and only if the student has learned the content in the other language.

Scribe (in English) may be appropriate for a beginning level English learner who do not have a translator and has better spoken English language proficiency than written.

Bilingual test form (Spanish/English) is only an allowable accommodation for math, science, and social studies. When the bilingual test form is enabled, the student can toggle between Spanish and English. The bilingual test form is appropriate for students who have content knowledge in both Spanish and English.

Text-to-speech Spanish/English, known as the Spanish voice-pack, is only an allowable accommodation for math, science, and social studies, unless the student also has an IEP or 504 that documents the need for text-to-speech. This accommodation is appropriate for English learners with beginning English proficiency and some English learners with intermediate-level English proficiency.

Text-to-speech tracking is only an allowable accommodation for math, science, and social studies. This accommodation will highlight words in test questions as the embedded text-to-speech feature reads the test aloud, which may help some students who use text-to-speech.

Word-to-word dictionaries and word-to-word glossaries must not include definitions, phrases, sentences, or pictures. An electronic dictionary may be used but it must not connect to the internet or store information. Students should be familiar with the dictionary or glossary. English learners may use an approved bilingual word-to-word dictionary or glossary on all Ohio's State Tests, including the English Language Arts tests. While this accommodation is allowed for any student currently identified and reported as an English learner, this accommodation is recommended for English learners with intermediate to advanced English proficiency and may not be appropriate for beginning-level or younger English learners. 

The dictionaries and glossaries on the following lists are known to meet the criteria for allowable dictionaries for statewide testing.

• The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's list of bilingual word-to-word dictionaries 

• ACT-Approved bilingual word-to-word dictionaries

  • ACT-Approved EL supports 

• College Board-Approved word-to-word dictionaries for the SAT Suite of assessments

  • SAT-Approved EL supports 

• New York University, Steinhardt, Glossaries for ELs and MLLs

NOTE: Students who have been identified as EL, but do not participate in the EL program due to parent/guardian refusal, are still allowed assessment accommodations in accordance to their EL plan.