English Language
Learner: Evaluation & Assessment
Instructor Name: Dr. Karen Lea
Phone: 509-891-7219
Office Hours: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. PST Monday – Friday
Email: karen_lea@virtualeduc.com
Address: Virtual
Education Software
23403
E Mission Avenue, Suite 220F
Liberty
Lake, WA 99019
Technical Support: support@virtualeduc.com
English Language Learner: Evaluation &
Assessment was written to
help teachers understand concepts and terms related to evaluating and assessing
students whose first language is not English. This course discusses high-quality
assessment and the scope of assessments, including initial placement, annual
assessments, and exit assessments. This course ends with a discussion of
classroom assessments, including accommodations for those who need language
assistance.
This computer-based
instruction course is a self-supporting program that provides instruction,
structured practice, and evaluation all on your home or school computer.
Technical support information can be found in the Help section of your course.
Title: English Language Learner:
Evaluation & Assessment
Instructor: Dr. Karen Lea
Publisher: Virtual Education Software, inc. 2020, Revised 2022
The structure and
format of most distance-learning courses presume a high level of personal and
academic integrity in completion and submission of coursework. Individuals
enrolled in a distance-learning course are expected to adhere to the following
standards of academic conduct.
Academic work
submitted by the individual (such as papers, assignments, reports, tests) shall
be the student’s own work or appropriately attributed, in part or in whole, to
its correct source. Submission of commercially prepared (or group prepared)
materials as if they are one’s own work is unacceptable.
The individual will
encourage honesty in others by refraining from providing materials or
information to another person with knowledge that these materials or
information will be used improperly.
Violation
of these academic standards will result in the assignment of a failing grade
and subsequent loss of credit for the course.
This course is
designed as an informational course for K–12 teachers, administrators, parents,
and related service personnel. Information discussed is designed to help you
better understand second language acquisition and current educational models
being used to educate English language learners. This course will allow you to
compare and identify how school districts in your own area are implementing
English language learning programs, handling current issues, and some of the practices teachers are using to educate students and communicate
with parents/guardians.
As a result of taking this course, participants will be able to
demonstrate their ability to:
1. Identify bias and other ethical concerns
in assessments.
2.
Apply
knowledge of a variety of assessments.
3.
Apply
knowledge of assessment procedures for ELLs.
4.
Apply
knowledge of assessment accommodations for ELLs.
5.
Implement
legal assessment requirements for identification, reclassification, and exit of
ELLs from ELL programs.
6.
Assess
ELLS using a variety of assessments.
Information
provided in this course has been divided into four chapters, which should be
completed in the order in which they are presented in the program. Once you
have completed these four chapters, you should have a better understanding of
the concept of evaluating and assessing English language learners. You are
strongly encouraged to read additional journal articles, books, and research
materials outside the course material to gain a better understanding of current
issues related to educating students who need language assistance.
This chapter of the
course focuses on the criteria for determining whether an assessment is a
high-quality assessment. We will also discuss issues such as validity and
culturally fair assessments.
Chapter 2 focuses
on the initial placement assessments required by legislation. Included in the
discussion are the accommodations needed for students learning English as a
second language.
This chapter
focuses on students who need language assistance and are also exceptional
and/or gifted. Discussion will focus on legislative requirements and practical
suggestions for the classroom.
Chapter four
focuses on classroom assessments every educator can use to assess English
language learners, including possible accommodations.
Student Expectations
As
a student you will be expected to:
·
Complete all four
information sections showing a competent understanding of the material presented
in each section.
·
Complete all four section
examinations, showing a competent understanding of the material presented. You must obtain an overall score of 70% or higher, with no individual exam score below 50%, to pass this course. *Please
note: Minimum exam score requirements may vary by college or university;
therefore, you should refer to your course addendum to determine what your
minimum exam score requirements are.
·
Complete a review of any section on which your examination score was
below 50%.
·
Retake any examination, after completing an
information review, to increase that examination score to a minimum of 50%,
making sure to also be achieving an overall exam score of a minimum 70% (maximum
of three attempts). *Please note: Minimum exam score
requirements may vary by college or university; therefore, you should refer to
your course addendum to determine what your minimum exam score requirements
are.
·
Complete a course evaluation form at the end of the course.
At the end of each chapter, you will be
expected to complete an examination designed to assess your knowledge. You may
take these exams a total of three times. Your last score will save, not the
highest score. After your third attempt,
each examination will lock and not allow further access. Your final grade for the course will be
determined by calculating an average score of all exams. This score will be printed on your final
certificate. As this is a self-paced
computerized instruction program, you may review course information as often as
necessary. You will not be able to exit any examinations until you have
answered all questions. If you try to exit the exam before you complete all
questions, your information will be lost. You are expected to complete the
entire exam in one sitting.
Karen Lea holds a
Ph.D. in education. Dr. Lea has 15 years of experience teaching at the K–12
level and another 14 years’ experience teaching education courses at the
undergraduate and post-graduate levels. Those 14 years in higher education
included 6 years as a dean at a university and 7 additional years in charge of
assessment and accreditation at a university. Currently, she is a lead program
development owner at Western Governor’s University. Dr. Lea has been
professionally published over 15 times and has served on over a dozen panels
and boards, including serving on the NCATE (CAEP) Board of Examiners.
You may contact the
instructor by emailing karen_lea@virtualeduc.com or by calling 509-891-7219 Monday through
Friday. Calls made during office hours will be answered within 24 hours. Phone
conferences will be limited to ten minutes per student, per day, given that
this is a self-paced instructional program. Please do not contact the
instructor about technical problems, course glitches, or other issues that
involve the operation of the course.
If you have
questions or problems related to the operation of this course, please try
everything twice. If the problem persists please check
our support pages for FAQs and known issues at www.virtualeduc.com and also the Help section of your course.
If you need
personal assistance then email support@virtualeduc.com or call 509-891-7219. When contacting
technical support, please know your course version number (it is located at the
bottom left side of the Welcome Screen) and your operating
system, and be seated in front of the computer at the time of your call.
Please refer to VESi’s website: www.virtualeduc.com or contact VESi if
you have further questions about the compatibility of your operating system.
Refer to the addendum regarding
Grading Criteria, Course Completion Information, Items to be Submitted, and how
to submit your completed information. The addendum will also note any
additional course assignments that you may be required to complete that are not
listed in this syllabus.
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& McMaster, K. L. (2020). Assessing language and literacy with bilingual
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Course content is updated every three
years. Due to this update timeline, some URL links may no longer be active or
may have changed. Please type the title of the organization into the command
line of any Internet browser search window and you will be able to find whether
the URL link is still active or any new link to the corresponding
organization’s web home page.
11/29/22 JN