Including Students Who Are Blind or Have Low Vision
in English Language Proficiency Assessments
Laurene Christensen, National Center on Educational
Outcomes, Research Associate, chri1010@umn.edu,
Vitaliy Shyyan, National Center on Educational Outcomes,
Research Associate, shyya001@umn.edu, and
Cathryn Still, Council of Chief State School Officers,
Program Director, ELPA21, Cat.still@ccsso.org
English language proficiency assessments are used for a
variety of purposes in the K-12 setting, including determining
placement, informing instruction, and determining exit of English
language development services for English learners (ELs).
Traditionally, these assessments have been developed to assess
English development in four domains: listening, speaking, reading,
and writing. Most recently, new assessments such as the English
Language Proficiency Assessment for the 21
st
Century (ELPA21)
consortium have developed these assessments on technology-
based platforms.
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