Validity Issues in Assessing English Language Learners' Language Proficiency

Do High-Stakes Test Really Address English Language Learners’ Learning Needs? – A Discussion of Issues, Concerns, and Implications

“…If ELLs are not able to demonstrate their knowledge due to their linguistic difficulty, the test results will not be a valid reflection of what the students know and can do (Coltrane, 2002). Wolf et al (2008) further discussed these validity issues. The NCLB Act has made a great impact on states' policies in assessing the ELLs.…”

“…Research has examined the reliability, validity, and fairness issues of assessing ELLs (Abedi, 2002;DiCerbo, 2000;Huang, 2008Huang, , 2011Huang, , 2012Huang & Foote, 2010;Rivera & Vincent, 1997;Wolf, Farnsworth, & Herman, 2008). Including ELLs in the HSTs, as argued by DiCerbo (2000) assessment raises many questions about whether or not the assessment tools are valid, reliable, and appropriate for the assessment of ELLs.…”

“…However, due to the lack of available resources states face considerable challenges in validating their current assessment and accountability systems for the ELLs. Considering the significant role of assessments in guiding decisions about organizations and individuals, as argued by Wolf et al (2008), "it is of paramount importance to establish a valid assessment system" (p. 80).…”

Accountability-assessment under No Child Left Behind: Agenda, practice, and future

“…As has been pointed out in this issue (see Bunch; Bailey & Huang) and elsewhere (Bailey & Butler, 2003;Chalhoub-Deville & Deville 2006;Wolf, Farnsworth, & Herman, 2008), NCLB mandated greater attention to special populations, including ELLS, and their inclusion in accountability-related assessments. NCLB helped reverse an entrenched practice whereby ELLs were exempted from statewide achievement tests.…”

Validating English Language Proficiency Assessment Uses for English Learners: Academic Language Proficiency and Content Assessment Performance

“…Despite these important uses of ELP assessments, which have been in place for the past decade, it is only recently that empirical studies have become available to validate the uses of these ELP assessments. Whereas test developers’ initial validation work focused on evaluating the technical qualities of the ELP assessments during the development stages (e.g., reliability, differential item functioning; see National Research Council, , and Wolf, Farnsworth, & Herman, , for a review of ELP test developers’ validity evidence), a few recent studies have investigated the relationship between EL students’ performance on ELP assessments and assessments of content such as English language arts and mathematics (e.g., Cook, Linquanti, Chinen, & Jung, ; Kim & Herman, ; Parker, Louie, & O'Dwyer, ; Thompson, ). In investigating the relationship between EL students’ ELP assessment performance and content assessment performance, previous studies have mainly focused on either (1) predicting EL students’ content assessment performance using their ELP assessment performance or (2) identifying an ELP performance standard to determine EL students’ readiness to exit EL status.…”