Elizabeth Irvin

CISL 550

Assignment 4

March 14, 2017

Part 1:

a. Formative and Summative Evaluation

Formative and Summative Evaluations are very different because the end result of the assessment

or evaluation and meant to achieve very different things. For Formative Evaluation, those are given

to provide current data or information that will help a teacher decide the plan or path for

instruction. For example, classroom activities or pop quiz may show whether students are

understanding the content. It provides immediate feedback that supplies the teacher with

knowledge to formulate the correct or appropriate next steps. If students do not understand and

struggle with the information in a formative evaluation, then the teacher can rephrase or reteach

the content. Projects, writing assignments, and even interviews or informal conversations can be

examples of formative evaluations.

Summative Evaluations provide data at the end of the instructional period. For example, after a

book is read and studies have been delivered and end of the chapter or book test can be given to

see whether or not students fully comprehended the text and whether showed proficiency or

mastery in a content area or standard. The annual standardize tests are considered summative

because it summarizes learning as a whole or at the end of a year, semester or subject content area.

Examples also include midterms, large papers or essays or even a recital.

b. Unfair Evaluation for ESL in Standardize Testing

Unfortunately students in the ESL community to not get fairly evaluated when they are assessed

using standardize testing. Primarily this is because students that are being tested already have
 mastered the skills or language necessary to understand what the question is asking. Many times,

ESL students are unable to accurately comprehend what is being asked. They may understand the

content and ideas of geometry or the differences between solids and liquids or what war developed

during a certain time period but the pathway in which the students are being asked, the content

gets lost. For these reasons, the outcomes or scores of standardize tests do not accurately depict a

student's mastery in contents often. The validity and reliability of these standardize tests are not

measuring the ESL in the area that is needed. In addition, reliability of standardized tests could

potential produce an outcome that is favorable to an ESL student that does not actually have

mastery of skills. Recently, an entry screener of a student produced a level that was not accurate of

the student's actual proficiency. The test produce a high level of proficiency in English but the

student was actually a very low level two or high two. It is unfair to assign numbers to ESL students

if they are not actually measuring their skills and proficiency in a skill.

Part 2

a. Assessment
What is assessment? Assessment is a means to producing information about a students

learning progress or proficiency in a subject or content area. The purpose of assessing students

is to be able to determine whether the student is gaining progress and how to adjust or plan for

lessons and instruction. An assessment can tell you valuable data and there are so many

different types to collect data from. Referencing, Why TESOL, Assessment is also very different

from testing because testing only provides one set of information but assessment can calculate

a variety of situations and scenarios to provide information to collect an understanding of the

status of a students learning.

 For ESL students, a student is assessed at the beginning, when they enter the program using the

woodcock Munoz language screener. This assessment gives the instructors a baseline and

provides the student with a level of language proficiency from zero to five. After that initial test,

students are tested annually with the English Proficiency Assessment or ELPA which provides

additional data that marks how the student is progressing in the program in the four areas of

English. The four areas include, speaking, listening, writing and reading.

b. How to Assess and Evaluate an LEP Student

As mention previously, the LEP student is assessed upon entry in the ESL program with the

Woodcock Munoz Language Screener. After the initial assessment, students who are in the

program will continue to take the English Language Proficiency Assessment every year until they

test proficient for two years in a row. After they score proficient and exit the ESL program, they

are continually monitored for several year to make sure they are progressing without services.

Within a classroom, an LEP student, the level and grade should be taken into account when

determining classroom assessments that are given to make sure it is assessing the student

appropriately. LEP students can be appropriately assessed by conferencing and reviewing

school records such as portfolios and student work samples. Formal and informal interviews

between teacher, parents can also provide necessary and important assessment feedback about

a student's work habits and progress. Anecdotal records or direct observation can show how an

LEP student interacts with others. Lastly, the use of checklists or reading assessments called

cloze testing can be beneficial in assessing LEP students as well as writing and curriculum based

tests. Informal assessment offer the most effective and appropriate means of testing LEP

students because it does not measure mastery of skills as a whole but rather measures based
 upon the standards in the content for the expected outcomes of those as English language

learners.

Sources:

Ariza, E. N. (2010). Why TESOL?: theories and issues in teaching English to speakers of other
languages in K-12 classrooms. Dubuque, IA: Kendall Hunt Pub Co.

A Visual Chart on Summative Vs Formative Assessment. (n.d.). Retrieved March 10, 2017, from

http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2014/02/a-visual-chart-on-summative-vs.html