Jodi Herold
Problem Statement
ED 633
Summer 2011
Within the past decades, the ELL (English Language Learners) population within United States’ school walls has increased dramatically. During this time, the United States Congress passed an act called the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB). This act was passed on the theory of providing fair assessments and upholding standards on instruction for all students. This was reportedly designed to provide accountability for individual schools, districts, and states. With ELL learners’ student achievement scores being low compared to non-ELL learners year after year in mathematical assessments that are mandated under NCLB, there is alarm at district, state, and national levels. The implications are great—for students, teachers, and schools.
Due to NCLB accountability and the necessity of teaching language and content, educators have approached ELL students in many ways. Some approaches include bilingual education, sheltered English, and use of ESOL (English as a Second Language) strategies. Even though these strategies have been helpful for ELL students, the alarming achievement gap still exists on mathematics state and national assessments. Many feel that the form and language of these math assessments do not allow for ELL students to demonstrate knowledge. The assessment instead becomes an English language proficiency assessment rather than a demonstration of knowledge assessment in mathematics.
The pressures on teachers and schools for ELL students to pass their state assessments are enormous due to the accountability aspects of NCLB. Teachers are going to great lengths to have study groups, interventions, and test-taking classes to help ELL students pass their state assessments. For many teachers, their time and effort appears to have been in vain when looking at the test results. The focus of this literature review is to: 1) Identify the language factors in math assessments that hinder ELL students, 2) Determine how useful accommodations and modifications on assessments are for ELL students, and 3) Discuss the implications for educators based on the findings of questions 1 and 2.
Themes with Citations
1) Identify the language factors in math assessments that hinder ELL students
(Abedi & Lord, 2001)
(Abedi, 2002)
(Shaftel, Belton-Kocher, Glasnapp & Poggio, 2006)
(Martiniello, 2008)
2) Determine how useful accommodations and modifications on assessments are for ELL students
(Abedi, 2009)
(Castellon-Wellington, 2000)
3) Discuss the implications for educators based on the findings of questions 1 and 2.
All of the above
References
Abedi, J. & Lord, C. (2001). The language factor in mathematics tests. Applied Measurement in Education, 14(3), 219-234.
Abedi, J. (2002). Standardized achievement tests and English language learners: psychometrics issues. Educational Assessment, 8(3), 231-57. doi: 10.1207/S15326977EA0803_02
Abedi, J. (2009). Computer testing as a form of accommodation for English language learners. Educational Assessment, 14(3/4), 195-211. doi:10.1080/10627190903448851
Hofstetter, C. (2003). Contextual and mathematics accommodation test effects for English-language learners. Applied Measurement in Education, 16(2), 159-188
Martiniello, M. (2008). Language and the performance of English-language learners in math word problems. Harvard Educational Review, 78(2), 333-368.
Sato, E., Rabinowitz, S. Gallagher C., & Huang, C. (2010) Accommodations for English language learner students: the effect of linguistic modification of math test item sets. (Final Report. NCEE 2009-4079) National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance.
Shaftel, J., Belton-Kocher, E., Glasnapp, D., & Poggio, J. (2006). The impact of language characteristics in mathematics test items on the performance of English language learners and students with disabilities. Educational Assessment, 11(2), 105-126. doi:10.1207/s15326977ea1102_2