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A number of English language proficiency exams target grades K-12 English language learners (ELLs) because of the rising need to identify their needs and provide appropriate support in language learning. A good example is the WIDA ACCESS for ELLs (hereafter ACCESS), designed to measure the English language proficiency of students identified as ELLs. Every year approximately two million K-12 ELLs in the WIDA Consortium take ACCESS. After students complete the exam, score reports are provided to relevant stakeholders, including teachers and parents of the students. Because score reports are widely used by stakeholders for many purposes (e.g., placement, reclassification of ELLs), it is necessary to understand how they are interpreted and used in educational and home settings. Such information could be used to understand the usefulness of score reports and also to enhance their quality. However, there is little research on stakeholders' interpretation and use of score reports, especially in the context of K-12 ELL exams in the Unites States. Existing research is limited to teachers' interpretation of score reports (Impara, Divine, Bruce, Liverman, & Gay, 1991; Luecht, 2003; Underwood, Zapata-Rivera, & VanWinkle, 2007). For example, Impara et al. (1991) investigated the extent to which teachers were able to interpret student-level results on a standardized state assessment and the extent to which interpretive information provided on the reverse side of the student score report improved teacher understanding. Findings suggest that interpretive material helped facilitate teachers' understanding of student scores on the assessment. However, few studies have examined how stakeholders actually use the interpreted information. Moreover, very few (Miller & Watkins, 2010) have examined score reports from the parents' perspective. To gain a deeper understanding of the meaningfulness and utility of score reports, it is necessary to examine both educators' and parents' perspectives. The study on which this paper is based investigated how two stakeholder groups--K-12 ELL educators and parents--interpret and use ACCESS score reports. Findings from qualitative interviews offer implications for score report development in general and how to further enhance the quality of ACCESS score reports. In the study, the authors addressed the following research questions: (1) How do K-12 ELL educators and parents interpret the information in an English proficiency exam score report?; and (2) How do K-12 ELL educators and parents use the information in an English proficiency exam score report?

Title III of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) requires state education agencies to develop progress and attainment benchmarks for school districts, called annual measurable achievement objectives (AMAOs), for English language learners (ELLs). AMAOs must be based on annual assessments of English proficiency in the domains of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Conceptually, holding districts accountable for ELL student progress and attainment in English seems straightforward. However, the process for establishing AMAO criteria can be very complex, and current research on system accountability using ELL assessments is sparse at best. Because of this dearth of research, there has been little guidance available to inform states on how to appropriately establish AMAO policies. This paper attempts to fill that void by providing guidance and recommendations on how states might establish AMAO progress and English attainment policies. The first section of the paper provides guidance for AMAO 1--targeted annual increases in the number or percentage of children making progress in learning English. The second section provides guidance for AMAO 2--targeted annual increases in the number or percentage of children attaining English proficiency. The third section offers some alternative approaches to setting AMAO 1 criteria. The data used in this paper come from three member states of the World-class Instructional Design and Assessment (WIDA) Consortium over a 3-year period (2005-2007) across all grades (kindergarten to 12th grade). The WIDA Consortium was originally established with funding from a U.S. Department of Education Enhanced Assessment Grant and includes 17 states. The English language proficiency assessment used by WIDA Consortium states is ACCESS for ELLs[R] (Assessing Comprehension and Communication in English State to State). This assessment is aligned with WIDA English proficiency standards and reflects the state-specific academic content standards of member states as required under NCLB. The AMAO recommendations made in this paper relate specifically to states using ACCESS for ELLs[R]; however, the methods, recommendations, and guidance offered are easily generalizable to other types of ELL assessment systems. (Contains 13 tables and 19 figures.) [The research reported in this paper was supported by the WIDA Consortium and by the Wisconsin Center for Education Research, School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison.]