ABSTRACT
In the United States, teachers and program administrators have struggled to identify appropriate procedures and instruments to assess the knowledge and abilities of students who are English language learners (ELLs). This endeavor has proved to be especially complicated because of the duallanguage and culturally-specific nature of their understandings (Hurley & Tinajero, 2001), the realization that the purposes of assessment with ELLs are so varied and complex, and the lack of valid and reliable measures for students acquiring English as a second language (Lapp et al., 2001). Assessment, hereby defined as a systematic approach for collecting information on student learning, understanding, and/or performance that is based on various sources of evidence, is generally used for five major purposes with ELL students. These purposes include:
• initial screening, identification and educational program placement; • monitoring of student progress (both in learning English and in
attaining grade level content area standards); • accountability (English language proficiency and academic achieve-
ment); • reclassification and/or program exit; and • program evaluation.
