Constructing a Formative Assessment With Multilingual Student and Family Users: An Innovative Focus Group Protocol

• In Event: Thursday Roundtable Session 10:50 am
  In Roundtable Session: Advancing Social Justice in Bilingual Education: Different Stakeholders' Perspectives and Experiences (Table 3)

Abstract

We report on results of a focus group study intended to inform the design of the Multilingual Multimodal Science Inventory (M2-Si) assessment for students in grades 3-5 science. The purpose of the classroom assessment is to ensure that educators learn what students know and can do in science, without limiting teachers’ understanding to what students know and can do in science in English. The initial research engages assessment users, including children and families, in conversations about the kinds of information that they find useful about students’ science learning. We report on results of our investigations with multilingual students and their families and highlight aspects of our innovative focus group protocol.

Authors

• Keira G. Ballantyne, Center for Applied Linguistics

• Ivanna Mann Thrower Anderson, Student

• Amy Simpson-Burden, The Center for Applied Linguistics

• Brittany York, Center for Applied Linguistics