A Critical Examination of the Relationship between Student Performances on Assessments of English Language Proficiency and Academic Achievement

<p>To comply with federal accountability requirements, English learners (ELs) in Georgia must demonstrate progress in academic English language proficiency (ELP) and academic content-area achievement as measured annually by two state-mandated Title I and Title III assessments, the Accessing Communication and Comprehension in English State-to-State for English Language Learners® (ACCESS for ELLs®) and the Criterion-Referenced Competency Test (CRCT). Using a critical ELP assessment validation framework, the intent of this study was to investigate the relationship of students’ performances on Title assessments, analyze student level variability in the predictive power of the ELP assessment for academic achievement, and examine claims made when using assessment data for measurement, classification, and prediction. Partial correlations, multiple regressions, t-tests, and ANOVA analyses were performed on district level data for 1059 elementary 1st – 5th grade native Spanish speaking students who took both assessments in 2010. The results confirm that when student characteristics are held constant, a significant positive, though moderate, relationship exists between Els’ performances on the ACCESS for ELLs® and CRCT. The findings show that the time spent in English language development programs along with disability status and grade levels explain more variance in CRCT scores than students’ ELP scores and gender. Discussion is provided regarding the implications of these findings to support educators’ claims that EL assessment data is valid for high-stakes accountability decisions.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Education in Teacher Leadership (Ed.D)

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Teacher Leadership for Learning

Year dc:date.available

2011

Author dc:creator

• Baker, Margaret E. D.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Dr. Angela Blaver
• Dr. T. C. Chan
• Dr. Benjamin Lester

• academic achievement
• assessment
• critical theory
• NCLB
• elementary English learners
• English language proficiency
• Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/etd/474

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu:etd-1474