Reflection 1

Standard 4.a. ESC 761

Standard 4.a. Issues of Assessment for ELLs. Candidates demonstrate
understanding of assessment issues as they affect ELLs, such as accountability, bias,
special education testing, language proficiency, and accommodations in formal testing
situations. Candidates understand the different purposes of assessment and that assessment
must be fair, valid, reliable, and easy to administer. They should understand how and why to
implement authentic or performance-based assessment and the difference between formative
and summative assessment. They understand the particular issues and biases regarding ELLs
that stem from high-stakes testing. Candidates work with other school professionals who assess
ELLs in English and their native language to distinguish among normal language development,
language differences, and learning problems, using multiple sources of information to make
adjustments before concluding that the problem resides within the learner and making a special
education referral.

In ESC 761 we were given the opportunity to take an in depth look at the
NYSESLAT assessment. During this time I researched biases that linguistically and
culturally diverse students faced when taking this assessment, and other
assessments such as the Regents exams and SAT. I found during my research that
these assessments are often inaccurate due to the language of the exam; many
students have the content knowledge but lack the ability to demonstrate it in
English as proficient as they would be able to in their native language. After
researching these assessments it provided me with better insights on how to help
my students gain an edge prior to taking the exam, such as implementing a lesson to
feature a task they may find on the NYSESLAT like speaking, or listening. Keeping
these high-stakes assessments in mind is something we unfortunately as educators
have to do, however, after truly picking apart the assessments I feel as if there are
many ways I can prepare my students through out the year so that they can have
their best chance at being successful.
With that being said this has also taught me how to not test my ELLs. Keeping
all of the biases in mind, I will strive to teach and assess my students in ways that
they can demonstrate their understanding and content knowledge. Each student is
at different levels of language proficiency and they need to be tended to differently. I
think that formative assessments should be done often to keep a check for
understanding, and that several should be done before giving the student their
summative assessments.
This assignment tremendously helped my professional understanding of
what the NYSESLAT is, but also the biases these ELL students face when taking high
stakes assessments. Research, creativity, repetition, patience and understanding are
what I need to continually develop as I prepare and educate my students for these
examinations.