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Standard 4.a. Issues of Assessment for ELLs

This artifact is taken from the course ESC 761- Teaching English as a Second Language
to Adolescents and Adults. It is a paper I wrote based on two assessments: the first is ELLs
general assessment and the second, state exams administered to them in High School. The state
exams I looked at are the New York State English as a Second Language Achievement Test
(NYSESLAT) and the English Language Arts (ELA) and Global Studies Regents.
I found relevant information from the article Alternative Assessment of Language and
Literacy in Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Populations (2003) by Liang and Kamhi. They

found that test stimuli is biased when children have had very limited life experiences. I found
this to be particularly true when teaching urban students. Their scope tends to be very limited,
and in turn imagination and vocabulary can be difficult to extract. And at times, their knowledge
of world events is narrow as well. I would guess that their affluent counterparts would possess
more acumen as it pertains to these skills.
For example, this past Fall I taught my Middle Schoolers about what was going on in the
News. And the big topics were: Ebola, Ferguson, MO and the Central American Immigration
crisis. Surprisingly, they had no frame of reference for these topics and had no clue as to their
significance or impact on the larger society. What I found was that they needed the vocabulary
and background to understand/write about these important events. They needed a lot of support
to get the basic ideas on paper.
Another issue I saw was the use of African American Vernacular English (AAVE) in both
their speaking and writing. Although most live in predominantly Hispanic neighborhoods, the
influence of AAVE is very strong. Personally, I dont find it a huge problem when speaking but
when it translates into writing, then it becomes an issue. Whats expected of them is to read in

Standard American English (SAE). Since their speech patterns dont align with SAE, thats
another level of challenge when taking tests.
The NYSESLAT, ELA and Global exams are ones that could be problematic for ELLs.
The NYSESLAT tends to be very subjective with ambiguous pictures, in which the student needs
to write about them. The ELA exam has highly metaphorical and abstract language that is
difficult to decipher, and the Global has tons of background historical terms that one needs to
know before taking the exam. Each test has its flaws and challenges for the ELL population.
What I learned from this artifact is that ELLs need a lot of vocabulary supports. They
need to be able to break down root words and understand the different affixes. Once they have
that, they can then begin to successfully pass these tests. Also, if theyre heavily influenced by
AAVE, as the teacher Id need to show the difference between AAVE and SAE. And while it
may be okay to speak that way around friends, its definitely not suitable for writing.
This artifact meets the standard because as a teacher I need to understand the different
purposes of assessment and that assessment must be fair, valid, reliable, and easy to administer.
And I should understand how and why to implement authentic or performance-based assessment
and the difference between formative and summative assessment. Lastly, it gives me knowledge
of the particular issues and biases regarding ELLs that stem from high-stakes testing
I still need to grow in providing background knowledge as it pertains to History. Since
this subject is so dense with many facts, Id be unsure where to start. Since many of them hadnt
grown up in the US, their historical frame of reference could be lacking. I also havent had
much practice with standardized tests due to being in a private school. Ill definitely need more
experience with those tests.