NCLB and Testing English Language Learners
By Micheline Chalhoub-Deville, Ph.D.

President George W. Bush has made the establishment of standards and corresponding assessment systems the heart of his educational agenda by signing into law the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001. NCLB has distinctive policies regarding English Language Learners (ELL). NCLB mandates that states implement annual assessments that measure the knowledge and skills of all students, including ELL, who have traditionally been exempted from taking state-wide accountability tests.

Additionally, NCLB Title III requires students whose English proficiency precludes them from obtaining meaningful scores on achievement tests be administered an academic English language proficiency test. NCLB emphasizes that these ELL students are expected to "soon" have the requisite language skills that would enable them to take state-wide reading and math tests in English.

Several issues have to be considered when designing and administering English language tests to meet NCLB Title III requirements. At the design level, the leading issue is the focus on academic language. Until NCLB, the content of commercially available tests was aimed predominantly at measuring ELLs' everyday, basic communication skills.

Academic language, however, has distinct features that cannot be measured with such tools. Briefly, academic language is concerned with language features encountered in the schools and most specifically in content areas such as literature, science, and math. Research documents that although ELL may be able to communicate in everyday language that does not imply these ELL are proficient in the more abstract, linguistically complex academic language. Most ELL students need about two years to achieve peer-appropriate conversational language ability and even longer, five to nine years, for academic language proficiency.

Another important design consideration is the relationship between language proficiency and grade levels. It is commonly accepted that school grade cannot be equated with proficiency in English. We are likely to find students in all grades who have a range of English language proficiency. Nevertheless, this does not imply that one test is appropriate for all grades. Students in different grade levels vary in terms of their cognitive development, interests, and the language needed to perform their academic work. Consequently, this necessitates the construction of several ELL tests, each appropriate for a particular grade span. Essentially this entails the development of a separate ELL assessment appropriate for various grade spans, e.g., grades K, 1-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12.

Regarding test administration, a problematic policy has been the redesignation of ELL. As ELL gain English language proficiency, they are redesignated and moved out of the ELL group. Thus, only the non-proficient ELL are tested and expected to show progress. The U.S. Department of Education has become aware of this problem and now allows states to include the performance of those students who have been redesignated-for up to two years after redesignation-in the ELL group for reporting purposes. Still, many argue that this will only partially solve the problem because new ELL are continuously and in greater numbers being added, which makes it difficult to show significant progress for this group of students.

Speculations abound regarding the longevity of NCLB ELL policies. It is productive to point out that similar policies can be seen in President Clinton's education agenda, which also pushed for national standards and assessments. Under President Clinton, states that wanted to receive funds through the Elementary and Secondary Education Act were required to implement standards and assessments for all students in the schools. Clinton's efforts were harshly criticized at the time as representing federal imposition into local education. Consequently, plans came to a halt until President George W. Bush took office.

In short, presidents from both parties have championed testing for all students, including ELL. It is, therefore, reasonable to assume that while NCLB may change some of its provisions, accountability testing that includes ELL students is not likely go away-irrespective of what party is in office.

Micheline Chalhoub-Deville is an associate professor of Foreign Language and ESL Education. She is the lead author of the Iowa Tests of English Language Learning , which are being used in Iowa to meet NCLB Title III requirements.