Improving Testing For English Language

More than any book to date, this one provides a comprehensive approach to designing, building, implementing and interpreting test results that validly measure the academic achievement of English language learners. It scaffolds the entire process of test development and implementation and discusses essential intervention points. The book provides the type of evidence-based guidance called for in federal mandates such as the NCLB legislation. Key features of this important new book include the following. Comprehensive - This book recommends methods for properly including ELLs throughout the entire test development process, addressing all essential steps from planning, item writing and reviews to analyses and reporting. Breadth and Depth of Coverage- Coverage includes discussion of the key issues, explanations and detailed instructions at each intervention point. Research Focus - All chapters include an extensive review of current research. Emerging Trends - The chapters summarize guidance appropriate forinnovative computer-based assessments of the future as well as the paper-and-pencil tests of today. This book is appropriate for anyone concerned with the development and implementation of fair and accurate testing programs for English language learners. This includes university based researchers, testing personel at the federal, state and local levels, teachers interested in better assessing their diverse student populations and those involved in the testing industry. It is also appropriate for instructors teaching undergraduate and graduate courses devoted to testing the full range of students in todays schools.

Rebecca J. Kopriva is a visiting researcher at the University of Wisconsin.

Preface	p. xi
Purpose and Overview	p. 1
Changing Demographics in a Testing Culture: Why This Issue Matters	p. 13
Demographics and School Policy	p. 14
Demographics Snapshot	p. 14
An Educational Policy Snapshot	p. 17
ELLs: A Heterogeneous Population	p. 19
Culture and Learning	p. 20
Culture and Assessment	p. 25
The Educational Assessment of English Language Learners	p. 29
Tests of English Language Proficiency	p. 30
Large-scale Academic Achievement Assessments	p. 33
The Past as Preparation: Measurement, Public Policy, and Implications for Access	p. 37
A Brief History of Large-scale Achievement Testing	p. 37
Development of Measurement Theory Models	p. 42
Reliability to Multidimensional Item Response Theory	p. 42
A Changing View of Test Validity	p. 45
Fifty Years of Federal Policy Regarding Equity and the Use of Achievement Testing	p. 50
ESEA: Full Inclusion, Disaggregated Reporting, and Beyond	p. 50
Other Federal Influences	p. 53
Building Assessments to be More Accessible for ELLs	p. 55
Conceptual Underpinnings	p. 55
Developing Accessible Tests	p. 59
Estimating Levels of Access	p. 60
Getting Started: Issues of Participation, Alignment, and Validating Access with Test Specifications	p. 65
Participation in Test Development	p. 66
Expert Participation in Test Development	p. 66
Student Participation in Small Sample Pilots and Large Sample Field Tests	p. 67
Test Specifications and Content Validity	p. 68
Components of Test Specifications	p. 68
Documenting Content Validity for English Language Learners: The Access Specifications Package	p. 70
Alignment Considerations	p. 73
Overview	p. 73
Alignment and English Language Learners	p. 76
Providing the Foundation of Principled Test Construction: Maintaining the Integrity of the Item Targets	p. 81
Overview	p. 82
Overview of Access and Item Development	p. 84
The Centrality of Item Targets: Clearly Defining Intended Knowledge and Skills	p. 88
Development and Completion of Access-based Item Templates	p. 90
Access-based Item Development	p. 101
Contextual Factors	p. 105
Culturally broad experiences	p. 105
Making Expectations Clear and Explicit	p. 108
Prior Learning Expectations	p. 110
Structural Factors	p. 113
Simple Language Structures	p. 114
Vocabulary	p. 118
Effective Visuals	p. 121
Item Format	p. 128
Text Amount	p. 132
Tools	p. 134
Impact of Home Language	p. 135
A Note about Rubrics	p. 136
Tools, Test Forms, and Reviews	p. 141
Tools	p. 141
Text Supports	p. 143
Manipulatives	p. 145
Content-based Resources	p. 147
Activities	p. 148
Form Considerations	p. 149
Choosing Items	p. 150
Plain Language Forms	p. 152
Computer-based Testing	p. 153
L1 Form Considerations	p. 154
Using Portfolios	p. 157
Reviews	p. 160
Internal Reviews	p. 160
Fairness Reviews	p. 161
Putting It All Together	p. 167
In What Language Should English Language Learners Be Tested?	p. 169
Defining ELLs	p. 171
Variation Among ELLs	p. 171
Patterns of Language Proficiency	p. 173
Additional Sources of Linguistic Differences	p. 176
Limitations of Official Definitions of "ELL"	p. 177
Section Summary	p. 179
Classifying ELLs	p. 180
Schooling Background	p. 180
Defining and Assessing Language Proficiency	p. 181
Literacy and Academic Language as Part of Language Proficiency	p. 182
A Modern View of Language Proficiency: Communicative Competence	p. 183
Limitations of Mandated English Language Development Tests	p. 185
Section Summary	p. 187
Testing ELLs	p. 188
Limitations of Testing ELLs in English	p. 189
Limitations of Testing ELLs in L1	p. 191
Major Challenges in the Selection of Language for Testing ELLs	p. 192
Section Summary	p. 194
Future Directions	p. 194
Local Specificity of Testing Models	p. 195
Optimum Number of Items as Testing Accommodation	p. 196
Other Relevant Accommodations and Pretest Support	p. 201
Promising Administration Accommodations	p. 203
Extra Time	p. 203
Small Group	p. 204
Oral Administration	p. 205
Language Liaison	p. 206
Promising Response Accommodations	p. 208
Written Home Language or Code-switching	p. 209
Oral in English, the Home Language, or Code-switching	p. 209
Demonstrated or Modeled Response	p. 210
Pretest Support	p. 211
Classroom Support	p. 212
Family Assessment Night	p. 214
Proper Assignment of Accommodations to Individual Students	p. 217
Key Assignment Considerations	p. 218
Student Factors	p. 219
Accommodations	p. 225
Capacity	p. 227
Defining the Task	p. 228
Policy-based Approaches	p. 229
Research-based Approaches	p. 233
Operational and Prototypical Systems	p. 240
Guidance Models	p. 241
Research-based Standardized Data Collection and Assignment Systems	p. 244
Implications	p. 251
Scoring Considerations for English Language Learners	p. 255
Issues Which Impact Scoring	p. 256
Linguistic Considerations Influenced by the Home Language	p. 257
Cultural Considerations	p. 262
Language Acquisition Issues	p. 268
Access-based Scorer Training	p. 271
Scoring Process Considerations	p. 274
Selected Technical Considerations	p. 279
Developing an Interpretable Research Agenda for Documenting Validity	p. 281
Validation Design Model	p. 282
Research Design Considerations	p. 286
Selected Quantitative Approaches	p. 288
Modeling Relationships of Variables: Selected Methods	p. 289
Modeling Data from Continuous and Categorical Variables	p. 290
Modeling Frequency Data from Categorical Variables	p. 295
Comparison of Groups and Treatments: Selected Methods	p. 297
Comparison of Test Score Level Data	p. 297
Differential Item Functioning	p. 298
Other Methods for Analyzing Items	p. 304
Comparison of Model Structures	p. 305
Qualitative Approaches	p. 306
Tryouts and Pilots	p. 307
Cognitive Labs	p. 308
Comparability Considerations	p. 310
Defining Comparability	p. 310
Analyzing Construct Equivalence	p. 313
Analyzing Score Equivalence	p. 316
References	p. 319
Index	p. 345
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

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Improving Testing For English Language Learners

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