standards for literacy in science (WHST.9–10.6), they are to display their information “flexibly and
dynamically.” Students in this class have time toward the end of every session to complete a reflection
and planning log and answer the following questions: What was successful about your learning
today? What difficulties or problems did you encounter? How did you manage those difficulties? Were
you successful? If not, what plans do you have for dealing with them in the next lesson? These logs
serve as a means of self-assessment for students and support self-regulation since students have to
generate strategies to solve difficulties. The logs are also sources of information for teachers about the
progress students are making on their projects.
Assessment of ELD Progress
Assessing ELD progress, particularly the development of academic uses of English in each
discipline, is a responsibility shared by all educators in schools and districts where ELs are students.
(See chapter 11 in this ELA/ELD Framework for information on district and school leadership
responsibilities for monitoring ELD progress.) Districtwide and schoolwide assessment and professional
learning systems are critical for ensuring EL students’
achievement of the overarching goals of ELA/literacy and ELD
instruction: students develop the readiness for college, careers,
and civic life; attain the capacities of literate individuals;
become broadly literate; and acquire the skills for living and
learning in the 21st century. (See the outer ring of figure
8.1). However, teachers are the ones who ultimately ensure
that every day, each of their EL students has full access to
grade-level curricula and that they develop academic English
in a timely—and even accelerated—manner. Teachers’ deep
understandings of the CA CCSS for ELA/Literacy, the CA ELD
Standards, and other content standards are critical to effective
assessment for and of learning because these standards guide
instructional and assessment practices with ELs.
The CA ELD Standards provide outcome expectations at different English language proficiency
levels (Emerging, Expanding, Bridging) so that teachers can differentiate their instruction according
to individual EL students’ language learning needs on particular standards. Because the CA ELD
Standards delineate proficiency levels which EL students are expected to progress through during
the year (and in fact, they may progress through more than one level in a single school year),
teachers carefully attend to the ELD progress of their EL students on a frequent and ongoing basis. As
described previously in this chapter, this ongoing monitoring of student progress involves using short-
cycle formative assessment (minute-by-minute, daily, weekly), as well as medium-cycle assessment
for formative purposes (monthly, end-of-unit, interim, benchmark, and other periodic time frames).
Attending to the developing capacities and emerging or persistent needs of ELs is consistent with the
assessment approaches teachers employ for all students. However, because ELs are learning English
as an additional language at the same time as they are learning content knowledge through English
(and therefore have particular English language learning needs), teachers take additional steps to
assess ELD progress and act on evidence gathered from assessment. They consider the following
questions:
- How do I determine what my EL students’ levels of English language proficiency (Emerging,
Expanding, Bridging) are on different CA ELD Standards?
Teachers’ deep
understandings of the CA
CCSS for ELA/Literacy, the
CA ELD Standards, and other
content standards are critical
to effective assessment for
and of learning because
these standards guide
instructional and assessment
practices with ELs.850 | Chapter 8 Assessment