Effectiveness for Equity: An Analysis of English Learner Testing Accommodation Policies

• In Event: Testing in Education: Validity, Access, Equity, and Choice

Abstract

To be equitable, systems must be effective. I use critical policy analysis and a raciolinguisitic perspective to describe how ineffective testing accommodations for English learners (ELs) reify historically entrenched racial and linguistic inequities. I conducted a directed content analysis by coding each state’s policy and examining the relationship between the accommodations and ELs’ test scores. The percent of ELs who scored proficient on the math exams was predicted by scripted oral English and scripted oral translations in the students’ native languages. The percent of ELs who scored proficient on ELA exams was not predicted by any accommodations. My findings imply that states should make changes to their current testing accommodation policies in order to support a more equitable system.

Author

• Jennifer Gaul, University of Washington