Assessment for English Learners

Formative assessment is an essential practice for supporting all students, including English learners (ELs), in the science classroom. Formative assessment is assessment that takes place during the course of instruction with the goal of improving teaching and learning. Research suggests that formative assessment is a powerful lever for promoting student learning, and it may be particularly powerful for ELs, who are developing content and English proficiency simultaneously. Formative assessment can be particularly useful in instruction aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards in which students build and revise their understanding over time as they engage in three-dimensional learning (science and engineering practices; disciplinary core ideas; crosscutting concepts) to make sense of phenomena. Here, Llosa et al introduce four types of formative assessment that teachers can embed in their science instruction with ELs: (1) class checks, (2) small group checks, (3) self and peer checks, and (4) individual checks.