DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
P.O.
SUPTS. MEMO NO. 223
November 4, 2005
INFORMATIONAL
|
TO: |
Division
Superintendents |
|
FROM: |
Jo Lynne
DeMary Superintendent
of Public Instruction |
|
SUBJECT: |
Spring 2006 Administration of English Language Proficiency Assessments for Limited English Proficient (LEP) Students |
In accordance with Superintendents Memorandum,
Number 132, dated July 1, 2005, school divisions may use the Virginia Stanford
English Language Proficiency (SELP) test or a locally developed or selected
test that has been approved by the Board of Education to meet requirements of
Section 1111 (b) (7) of the No Child Left
Behind Act of 2001.
The Virginia SELP Test will continue to be the
state-approved assessment for those LEP students who are eligible to use the
reading component of the English Language Proficiency assessment as a
substitute for the SOL Reading tests (grades 3 through 8). The Department of Education will pay for the
administrative and scoring costs of all subtests of the SELP test when it is
used as a substitute. Harcourt
Assessment, Inc., will invoice the school division
directly if the SELP test is being used only to meet federal requirements for
English language proficiency testing.
Schedule
for Administration of SELP Tests
The SELP test will be administered according to the
following schedule:
March
27-April 28, 2006 SELP testing for those
students eligible to use the reading subtest as a substitute. The student response booklets must be
received at Harcourt by May 8, 2006.
March
27-May 26, 2006 SELP testing for
students using the test to meet federal proficiency test requirements. The student response booklets must be
received at Harcourt by June 5, 2006.
SELP Test Administrative Responsibilities
It is suggested that responsibilities for the
administration of the SELP test be shared by the division director of testing
(DDOT) and the English as a Second Language(ESL)/Title
III Coordinator in the following way: the DDOT and ESL coordinator will jointly
determine test dates and schedules including make-up sessions; ensure test
security guidelines are followed; monitor test administration; and ensure that
the response booklets are coded correctly.
Division
Director of Testing
The DDOT may assume responsibility for ordering, receiving, distributing, collecting, and returning secure and non-secure test materials, identifying and resolving test irregularities, and receiving and distributing score reports.
ESL
Coordinator (or another designee)
The ESL coordinators may assume responsibility for working with the appropriate school staff members to identify students to be tested, arranging locations for testing, identifying test examiners/proctors, receiving training materials, and training test examiners/proctors.
SELP Test Training (Sessions for School-Level Staff)
The SELP test training for the 2005-2006 school year will be held via WebEx. Six training sessions will be hosted (two hours per session). The sessions will be presented as a training the trainer model and are intended for DDOTs, STCs, Title III/ESL coordinators, and those responsible for training SELP test examiners. The training sessions will include a review of training materials, demonstration of how to administer the test, and specifically how to administer and score the speaking component. There will be a website that will host all training materials and a recorded training session. More details on registration information will be provided to DDOTs and Title III coordinators under a separate cover.
The SELP training sessions are as follows:
January 17, 2006 9:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m.
January 17, 2006 1:00 p.m.-3:00 p.m.
January 18, 2006 9:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m.
January 18, 2006 1:00 p.m.-3:00 p.m.
January 19, 2006 9:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m.
January 19, 2006 1:00 p.m.-3:00 p.m.
If you have questions about English Language
Proficiency assessment, please contact Laura Kennedy, LEP assessment
specialist, at Laura.Kennedy@doe.virginia.gov
or (804) 371-0258.
JLD/SLR/jc