Testing & Evaluation satisfies one of five State coursework requirements for Category 1 and is designed to prepare participants to plan and implement instruction and assessment activities that will meet the educational needs of English Language Learners and promote academic achievement for all students.

Duration: 8 weeks
Inservice: 60 points
Audience: Instructional K-12
Access to Students: No

Syllabus

Week 1: Background Legislation and Litigation
Week 2: Accountability
Week 3: Impact of Cultural and Linguistic Factors on the Assessment of ELLs
Week 4: Measurement Concepts in Test Administration and Interpretation
Week 5: Assessment for Placement and Progress Monitoring of ELLs
Week 6: District Assessments
Week 7: Responsive Assessment Techniques
Week 8: Culturally & Linguistically Diverse Learners & Exceptional Student Education

Specific Objectives

Participants will:

• identify regulations of the most recent reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act as they apply to ELLs.
• identify major court decisions, legal agreements, legislation, and state administrative rules that have affected the education of ELLs.
• identify how ELL assessment data is used for accountability purposes under No Child Left Behind and Florida's Accountability Plan.
• understand current research on second language acquisition and the influence of the second language acquisition process on the assessment of ELLs.
• differentiate the characteristics of ELLs in the process of second language acquisition and acculturation from the characteristics of ELLs with disabilities.
• differentiate the characteristics of ELLs in the process of second language acquisition from the characteristics of ELLs with speech and language disabilities.
• identify the policies and procedures that may impact ELLs in the referral process to ESE.
• understand and apply basic measurement concepts in test administration and interpretation.
• interpret assessment data (e.g., linguistic, academic, interlanguage data) to guide instructional decisions for ELLs.
• identify appropriate programmatic assessment techniques for use with ELLs.
• interpret assessment data of ELLs related to ESOL program placement, progress monitoring, and exiting.
• describe the role of the ELL Committee in evaluating ELLs  progress.
• identify factors that affect the assessment of ELLs.
• Identify 5 areas of reading and correlation to reading acquisition to ELL learners.
• identify appropriate formal and informal assessment tools and techniques to measure ELLs' development of oral language and literacy and academic achievement.
• identify appropriate adaptations of tests, test items, and test tasks according to the student's level of English proficiency.

Implementation

Evidence that course content has been transferred to daily instruction might include:

• increased student achievement in the classroom
• knowledge of various District and State administered assessments for ELLs.
• knowledge of various types of assessments that monitor and drive academic achievement for ELLs.

Materials

In order to complete this online course, participants need to be able to access web-based content, including multimedia presentations, professional articles, and various interactive websites.

Inservice

• complete all assignments
• participate each week in the Discussion Area
• score at least 80% or higher on post test

To receive the inservice points, all course requirements must be completed independently by the participant and not plagiarized from any other source or person.

Prerequisites

Participants must possess the following computer skills and software to participate in this course:

• an understanding of your computer’s operating system and software
• the ability to access the Internet and knowledge of Internet search techniques
• the ability to download and install files from the Internet
• an up-to-date antivirus software package