Assessment Portfolios: Including English Language Learners in Large-Scale Assessments. ERIC Digest.

The current school reform effort emphasizes the need to improve the education of all students. Assessing the academic achievement of every student is an essential part of this reform, but one that presents a challenge for most schools, school districts, and states. Traditional assessment practices in many states and school districts have tended to exclude students who are learning English as a Second Language. As a consequence, many English language learners (ELLs) are denied access to important educational opportunities that are based on assessment results. This digest focuses on one type of assessment system, assessment portfolios, and discusses the advantages and challenges of using an assessment portfolio system that includes ELLs as a district-wide assessment tool. Developing and implementing a large-scale assessment portfolio program that includes English language learners requires extensive planning and discussion and considerable resources. It also offers considerable advantages. Stakeholders within the system have a common vision about what students should learn and be able to do, how goals will be assessed, and what criteria will be used. Improved teaching and learning are natural outcomes of a well-designed, well-implemented assessment portfolio system. (VWL)