ABSTRACT
Classroom educators, those with direct responsibility for educating English learners, play a crucial role in the process of designing and developing K–12 English language proficiency (ELP) assessments in the United States. This chapter offers a description of the roles of several parties in various stages of the development of K–12 ELP assessments, with a particular focus on the role of classroom educators. Employing Stiggins’ model of assessment literacy, this chapter presents an extended analysis of the involvement of educators in the design and development of one such assessment program: the English Language Proficiency Assessments for California (ELPAC). The chapter then considers the impact of educators’ roles, both on the validity of test score interpretations for such assessments and on the professional development of the educators themselves, and concludes by providing recommendations for future practice.
