Assess Multilingual Learners

This course is designed to develop the knowledge and skills necessary for selecting, adapting, designing and interpreting assessments for bilingual/multilingual learners in PreK-12. The course will include discussion of appropriate assessment procedures for assessing bilingual/multilingual, culturally diverse students, including formal, informal, alternative and self-assessments, as well as practice interpreting assessment results and planning future instruction and/or program placement based on those results. Participants will learn to effectively distinguish between and assess bilingual/multilingual learners' language proficiencies, and mastery of content matter in one or more languages. Participants will also consider ways in which linguistic and cultural differences affect assessment outcomes, how to evaluate assessment results' validity and reliability for bilingual/multilingual learners, and best practices for assessing bilingual/multilingual learners with exceptionalities.