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Case: Is it possible to set academic assessment expectations for ESL students Mrs. Marcus had implemented the latest idea in educational assessment. She had studied and prepared for the introduction of portfolio assessment into her seventh grade classroom. The students, including her ESL (English as a Second Language) students, were excited about collecting their work in their very own portfolios. Mrs. Marcus explained to her students that their portfolios would be evaluated and shared with parents during conferences. After a few weeks of working on important assignments, students were allowed to organize their portfolios and enter their work. Mrs. Marcus informed the students of her specific academic expectations on each assignment. Unfortunately, she encountered some difficulties when evaluating the students' portfolios. She observed that her grading guidelines did not accommodate her ESL students. The second language learners were not meeting her expectations in the area of grammar and punctuation on the assignments. Mrs. Marcus realized that she had not taken into consideration the varied language acquisition stages of the ESL students. Questions: 1. Should Mrs. Marcus return to her conventional assessment methods? 2. How can portfolios meet the needs of all students? 3. Is it possible to set academic assessment expectations for ESL students who have not yet acquired their new language? Solution: (Rates are posted for this solution!) 1. I think that Mrs. Marcus should continue to use the portfolio method in her classroom. Students enjoy doing portfolios and they are able to show off their work instead of having to take tests to show what they know. 2. Portfolios are able to show the teacher and anyone else what the students are capable of. They are not under the pressure of taking a test and are able to show what they know. It also shows how the students have progressed over the year. You can go back to the first day of school and then compare it to their work at the end of the year. This will vividly show what the students have learned and where they still need to work harder on. 3. I think that it is possible to set basic academic assessment expectations for the ESL students. The teachers still need to work one on one more with these students to make sure that they are understanding the new language and that they are learning it correctly. These students should not be held to the same standards in English as students who were born in English speaking homes though. |
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