Hi to all,
 
I thought it would be helpful to give a brief background on the NRS descriptors and why the ESL levels and descriptors were changed, one of the topics that Marie wanted us to address in the brief discussion this week.
 
Those of you that have been in adult literacy for a while know that we have divided students into ABE, ASE and ESL for some time.  There were levels within each of these areas defined by student literacy, language and functional skills long before the NRS.  (I have heard from the ancients that way back there were no levels, but that was before my time.  I am not that old!)  When I started in adult education in 1990, there were only 3 ESL levels, two ABE levels and one ASE level.  In 1995, we added what is now the beginning literacy level to both ABE and ESL and that is where we were when the NRS development started in 1997.
 
With the NRS, the importance of showing student educational gain by level became the key measure and we focused a lot of attention on developing levels that reflected what is taught in adult education, determining skills that would define levels and identifying tests that could the test levels measure student skills within these levels. We also wanted to narrow the levels because we realized the range of levels was too broad to reflect student learning.  So we created 6 ESL levels, 4 ABE levels and 2 ASE levels.  We hoped these levels would provide a meaningful framework for measuring educational progress.
 
In early 2004, with three years of experience with this system, some dissatisfaction from states and the federal office emerged with the beginning and high advanced ESL levels:
 
§    Many state staff and practitioners claimed that the wide range of skills encompassed within the beginning ESL level made it difficult to show educational gain and to demonstrate student progress accurately.
 
§    Enrollment in high advanced ESL was low over the three years - about 40,000 students or about 4 percent of total ESL students.  In contrast, over 340,000 students were enrolled in beginning ESL (about 30 percent of total ESL students) during that same period.
 
§    There were limited ways of showing completion of the advanced ESL level.  Until the development of BEST Plus in 2003, there were no valid and reliable NRS assessments that could measure completion from high advanced ESL, which was defined as SPL 8.
 
For these reasons, the Division of Adult Education and Literacy (DAEL) in the Department of Education, changed the levels for ESL by splitting the beginning level into low beginning and high beginning.  The high advanced ESL was been eliminated and the existing low advanced ESL was renamed as advanced ESL.  The  exit criteria for this level was lowered to better match currently available assessments.   Before making these changes, DAEL consulted with the NRS technical working group and the state directors of adult education and it received extensive support.
 
The proposed change was first announced in spring 2004 and we re-wrote the descriptors with help from CAL and CASAS staff in 2005.   The new levels went into effect this month and we hope they will help us provide a better picture of adult ESL student's education progress.
 

  _____  

From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Marie Cora
Sent: Monday, July 17, 2006 7:59 AM
To: Assessment at nifl.gov
Subject: [Assessment 406] Questions on ESOL Level Descriptors in NRS


Good morning, afternoon, and evening to you all.  I hope this email finds you well.
 
I wanted to let everyone know that during this week, Larry Condelli from AIR (American Institutes of Research), who works with the NRS, and Sarah Young, from CAL (Center for Applied Linguistics) who works with BEST Plus will be available to answer any questions you might have regarding the changes in ESOL Level Descriptors, which go into effect this summer (this month I believe).  I also encourage anyone who has questions regarding other ESOL tests (CASAS or EFF for example) to join in this Q&A.  Because the Level Descriptors have been adjusted, the tests used to track learning gains also have undergone some shifting and it is important that we understand what these changes are.  
 
Larry and Sarah will be present on the List during this week, but perhaps intermittently - replies may not come immediately.  I encourage you to post your question to the List, or to send your question to me for posting, if you prefer that.  
 
Larry, Sarah, and others working with any of the ESOL tests - feel free to jump in and give us a thumbnail sketch of what the changes are and how they might affect our work in programs and with students.
 
The NRS homepage is located at:  http://www.nrsweb.org/
To view information on the NRS Level Descriptors, please go to:  http://www.nrsweb.org/reports/NewESLdescriptors.pdf
At the bottom of the NRS homepage, see also:  NRS Changes for Program Year 2006
 
Thanks so much - I'm looking forward to understanding this information, and hearing what folks questions are regarding the changes.
 
Marie T. Cora
Assessment Discussion List Moderator
marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com
 
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