A REPORT recently released by the University of California Davis, showed US standardized testing seeking to measure students’ English language proficiency has improved significantly since 2001, when the US Congress passed the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. Such testing plays a critical role in the academic success of the US’ estimated 5 million English language learners, Education Week has reported.
“We have made excellent progress,” said Jamal Abedi, professor of education at the University of California Davis, and editor of the report, “English Language Proficiency Assessment in the Nation: Current Status and Future Practice”. “This is important because one of the greatest influences on English language learners’ academic careers, when instructed and assessed in English, is their level of English proficiency,” he added.
In response to the NCLB Act, which mandated reliable annual assessments of students’ English proficiency, the US Department of Education has awarded a total of $10 million grants to four consortia of states since 2002, directing each to create an assessment. According to the report, about half the states are now using one of the four consortia tests, while more than 60 tests were in use in the US before 2001.
The newly developed tests assess students in reading, writing, speaking and listening, while the previous ones were mostly designed to assess only speaking and listening. In addition, the new generation of tests are designed to assess “academic English” — the version of the language students need in order to learn subjects in school — rather than the social English used in the playground.
Experts say the federal education law’s requirements to test English progress in a comprehensive way is a positive move, even though much more work needs to be done to ensure that the tests are valid and meaningful. “These tests wouldn’t be as good as they are without those (NCLB) requirements,” said Stanley N. Rabinowitz, the director of assessment and standards-development services for WestEd, a San Francisco-based research agency. Rabinowitz agreed with Abedi that the states have done a good job in coming up with tests that evaluate academic English.
