C R E S S T / U C L A
UCLA Graduate School of Education & Information StudiesCenter for the Study of Evaluation
National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing
Recent Research Findings on Assessment Accommodations for
English Language Learners
Jamal Abedi
2000 CRESST Conference:Educational Accountability in the 21st Century
September, 2000
C R E S S T / U C L A
A Summary of CRESST Studies on the Impact of Language Background on Students’ Content-Based
Performance
Language Background as a Variable in NAEP Mathematics Performance(Abedi, Lord, & Plummer, 1994-1995) Analyses of existing NAEP data
ELL students performed significantly lower on the long items than non-ELL
The percentage of omitted not-reached items were significantly higher for ELL students
The performance of ELL students was significantly lower on linguistically complex items
Student Perception Study
Original and linguistically modified items were presented to both ELL and non-ELL students
An overwhelming majority of ELL students preferred the simplified versions
ELL students indicated the it would be more productive for them to use the simplified version
Accuracy Test Study
ELL students performed significantly lower than non-ELL students in reading
ELL students performed significantly lower than non-ELL students in math
However, the performance gap between ELL and non-ELL was reduced with the linguistically modified version of test
C R E S S T / U C L A
Three versions of math test items were used
Original English
Linguistically modified English
Spanish translated version
Booklets were randomly assigned to students within a classroom
All students performed slightly higher on the linguistically modified version
Spanish speaking students taking the Spanish translated version performed significantly lower than others, this may be due to the issue of language of instruction
Impact of Selected Background Variables on Students’ NAEP Math Performance
(Abedi, Lord, & Hofstetter, 1997)
C R E S S T / U C L A
NAEP Math Performance and Test Accommodations: Interactions with Student Language Background
(Abedi, Hofstetter, Baker, & Lord, 1998)
Three different forms of accommodations were used:
Extra time
Glossary
Glossary + extra time
Standard NAEP condition
The three accommodation strategies along the standard condition were randomized within the classrooms across ELL and non-ELL groups
Extra time increased performance of all students slightly
Glossary without extra time did not have much impact on the students’ performance
Glossary with extra time had a big impact on the performance of both ELL and non-ELLs
However, the impact of glossary with extra time was more evident with non-ELL students. This raised concern over the validity of accommodations
C R E S S T / U C L A
Analyses of Existing Data on the National Large-Scale Assessments
(Abedi, Leon, 1999, Abedi, Leon, & Mirocha, 2000)
The performance gap between ELL and non-ELL students was largest in reading.
The performance gap between ELL and non-ELL decreased as we moved from reading to science and form science to math.
For some subscales of math (such as math computation) there was not any gap between ELL and non-ELL students
The reliability coefficients for ELL test scores were substantially lower than those for non-ELL.
Our results indicated that language factor may act as a source of measurement error for ELL students.
C R E S S T / U C L A
Abedi, J. Leon, S. & Mirocha, J. (2000). Impact of students’ language background oncontent-based performance: Analyses of extant data. University of California, LosAngeles, National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, andStudent Testing.
Abedi, J. Leon, S. (1999). Impact of students’ language background on content-basedperformance: Analyses of extant data. University of California, Los Angeles,National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and StudentTesting.
Abedi, J., Hofstetter, C., Baker, E. & Lord, C. (1998). NAEP math performance andtest accommodations: Interactions with student language background, DraftReport. Los Angeles: University of California, Los Angeles, National Centerfor Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing.
Abedi, J. Lord, C. & Hofstetter, C. (1997). Impact of selected background variables onstudents’ NAEP math performance, Final Report. Los Angeles: University ofCalifornia, Los Angeles, National Center for Research on Evaluation,Standards, and Student Testing.
Abedi, J., Lord C., & Plummer, J. R. (1997). Final Report of Language Background asa Variable in NAEP Mathematics Performance. Los Angeles: Center for theStudy of Evaluation, CSE Technical Report # 429.
Butler, F.A. & Castellon-Wellington, M. (2000). Students’ concurrent performance ontests of English language proficiency and academic achievement. (DraftDeliverable to OBEMLA. Los Angeles: UCLA Center for the Study ofEvaluation/ National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, andStudent Testing (CRESST).
Butler, F.A. & Stevens, R. (1997). Accommodation strategies for English LanguageLearners on large-scale assessments: Student characteristics and otherconsiderations. (CSE Tech. Report). Los Angeles: University of California,Center for the Study of Evaluation/ National Center for Research onEvaluation, Standards, and Student Testing.
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