English Learners Left Behind

English Learners Left Behind PDF

Author: Kate Menken

Publisher: Multilingual Matters

Published: 2008-01-01

Total Pages: 216

ISBN-13: 1853599972

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This book explores how high-stakes tests mandated by No Child Left Behind have become de facto language policy in U.S. schools, detailing how testing has shaped curriculum and instruction, and the myriad ways that tests are now a defining force in the daily lives of English Language Learners and the educators who serve them.

Teacher-Made Assessments

Teacher-Made Assessments PDF

Author: Christopher R. Gareis

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2015-03-24

Total Pages: 208

ISBN-13: 1317681355

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Assessment is not only a measure of student learning, but a means to student learning. This bestselling book guides you in constructing and using your own classroom assessments, including tests, quizzes, essays, and rubrics to improve student achievement. You will learn how to weave together curriculum, instruction, and learning to make assessment a more natural, useful part of teaching. Find out how to... ensure your assessments are fair, reliable, and valid; construct assessments that meet the level of cognitive demand expected of students; create select-response items and understand technology-enhanced items that are increasingly being used on assessments; use constructed-response items and develop scoring criteria such as rubrics; and analyze student results on assessments and use feedback more effectively. This second edition features updated examples that reflect the Common Core State Standards as well as other content standards and new, useful samples of teacher-friendly techniques for strengthening classroom assessment practices. No matter what grade level or subject area you teach, this practical book will become your go-to resource for designing effective assessments.

Teaching Your Secondary ELLs the Academic Language of Tests

Teaching Your Secondary ELLs the Academic Language of Tests PDF

Author: r4Educated Solutions

Publisher: Solution Tree Press

Published: 2011-10-05

Total Pages: 166

ISBN-13: 1936765934

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Research shows that when English language learners understand the vocabulary used on tests, their scores soar—critical information for schools in an age of testing and accountability. This manual provides evidence-based, teacher-friendly lesson plans that will help English language learners deal with unfamiliar language features on standardized test questions. Teaching Your Secondary ELL Students the Academic Language of Tests supports English language arts teachers in grades 6-12 in providing instruction for content-specific language skills. Each lesson plan provides background information for the teacher, implications for high-stakes testing, a list of materials, academic vocabulary, activities, and in many cases, graphic organizers.

The Knowledge Gap

The Knowledge Gap PDF

Author: Natalie Wexler

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2020-08-04

Total Pages: 354

ISBN-13: 0735213569

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The untold story of the root cause of America's education crisis--and the seemingly endless cycle of multigenerational poverty. It was only after years within the education reform movement that Natalie Wexler stumbled across a hidden explanation for our country's frustrating lack of progress when it comes to providing every child with a quality education. The problem wasn't one of the usual scapegoats: lazy teachers, shoddy facilities, lack of accountability. It was something no one was talking about: the elementary school curriculum's intense focus on decontextualized reading comprehension "skills" at the expense of actual knowledge. In the tradition of Dale Russakoff's The Prize and Dana Goldstein's The Teacher Wars, Wexler brings together history, research, and compelling characters to pull back the curtain on this fundamental flaw in our education system--one that fellow reformers, journalists, and policymakers have long overlooked, and of which the general public, including many parents, remains unaware. But The Knowledge Gap isn't just a story of what schools have gotten so wrong--it also follows innovative educators who are in the process of shedding their deeply ingrained habits, and describes the rewards that have come along: students who are not only excited to learn but are also acquiring the knowledge and vocabulary that will enable them to succeed. If we truly want to fix our education system and unlock the potential of our neediest children, we have no choice but to pay attention.

ESOL Tests and Testing

ESOL Tests and Testing PDF

Author: Stephen Stoynoff

Publisher: Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages Incorporated

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 220

ISBN-13:

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This volume describes how ESOL tests and test users have changed greatly in the past few decades. Some widely used ESOL tests have been revised, with a number of new tests incorporating advances in computer technology. In addition, many more ESOL practitioners than in the past are responsible for selecting and using tests. Stephen Stoynoff and Carol A. Chapelle introduce teachers and administrators to the principles, methods, and vocabulary of language assessment. Twenty-one reviewers of ESOL tests consider test purpose, methods, and justification of their use in particular situations.

The Big Test

The Big Test PDF

Author: Nicholas Lemann

Publisher: Macmillan

Published: 2000-11-16

Total Pages: 424

ISBN-13: 9780374527518

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A history of the Educational Testing Service and the attempt to form an elite by sorting students, "fairly and dispassionately."

Testing Teacher Candidates

Testing Teacher Candidates PDF

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2001-10-19

Total Pages: 472

ISBN-13: 0309171067

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Americans have adopted a reform agenda for their schools that calls for excellence in teaching and learning. School officials across the nation are hard at work targeting instruction at high levels for all students. Gaps remain, however, between the nation's educational aspirations and student achievement. To address these gaps, policy makers have recently focused on the qualifications of teachers and the preparation of teacher candidates. This book examines the appropriateness and technical quality of teacher licensure tests currently in use, evaluates the merits of using licensure test results to hold states and institutions of higher education accountable for the quality of teacher preparation and licensure, and suggests alternatives for developing and assessing beginning teacher competence. Teaching is a complex activity. Definitions of quality teaching have changed and will continue to change over time as society's values change. This book provides policy makers, teacher testers, and teacher educators with advice on how to use current tests to assess teacher candidates and evaluate teacher preparation, ensuring that America's youth are being taught by the most qualified candidates.

Common Sense and Testing in English

Common Sense and Testing in English PDF

Author: National Council of Teachers of English. Task Force on Measurement and Evaluation in the Study of English

Publisher:

Published: 1975

Total Pages: 46

ISBN-13:

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The members of the National Council of Teachers of English believe it is imperative that the public and the profession know what great harm is being done to students by unwarranted faith in standardized tests. The Task Force on Measurement and Evaluation in the Study of English was formed in 1974, and found widespread ignorance about tests among teachers, administrators, school board members, the media, and the public. This booklet is about tests in English language arts, but its analysis of the art of testing has insights for all subjects and subject-matter teachers, as the problems with standardized tests are not unique to one subject area. This information is offered for the benefit of the profession, students, and for the citizens who pay for schools and must judge what educators do.

Young English Language Learners

Young English Language Learners PDF

Author: Eugene E. Garcia

Publisher: Teachers College Press

Published: 2019-07-05

Total Pages: 357

ISBN-13: 0807778109

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It is well known that the number of non-English speakers is on the rise in the United States. What is less well known is that the largest proportion of this population is children under the age of 5. These young English language learners (ELLs) often demonstrate achievement gaps in basic math and reading skills when they start school. How best to educate this important and growing preschool population is a pressing concern for policymakers and practitioners. The chapters in this important book provide up-to-date syntheses of the research base for young ELLs on critical topics such as demographics, development of bilingualism, cognitive and neurological benefits of bilingualism, and family relationships, as well as classroom, assessment, and teacher-preparation practices. Contributors: Linda M. Espinosa, Margaret Freedson, Claudia Galindo, Fred Genesee, Donald J. Hernandez, José E. Náñez Sr., and Flora V. Rodríguez-Brown “This is a must-have for those who are working directly or indirectly with young English language learners.” —Olivia Saracho, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland