For price, you can't beat the NYSP. I think it gives good results and it's easy to administer. For students who are illiterate , you need to have an oral assessment as they won't show results on a written test for a while.
The NYSP(New York State Placement Test) costs about $100 for everything you need. To order call (518) 462-7292 ext. 10. That includes the training video.
Barb Linek
Project MAX
Adult Education Services Coordinator
(815) 609-9935
>From: "JUDITH SINCLAIR" <J-P-SINCLAIR@WORLDNET.ATT.NET>
>Reply-To: nifl-esl@nifl.gov
>To: Multiple recipients of list <NIFL-ESL@LITERACY.NIFL.GOV>
>Subject: [NIFL-ESL:8395] Need your thoughts on ESL program assessment...
>Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 17:25:56 -0500 (EST)
>
>Hello, everyone:
>
>Hope you have a minute during this busy time to help us out?
>
>I am putting into place an ESL program for an urban core program with a
>large lower-level population (based on 7 levels: Intro, and levels 1-6).
>This started off some time ago as a small school treating a very small
>population. As such, there seem to have been no clear standards,
>curriculum, goals/bjectives, and so on before, and assessment has not been a
>strong focus. Now we have a wave of immigrants coming to our facility, with
>about 20% I guess illiterate in their own language, and with another 20% or
>more with less than a high school education in their own country.
>
>I believe we have decided on the California Adult Education "ESL--Model
>Standards for Adult Education Programs." It seems to suit our
>language-learning needs I believe, as it follows nicely the standard model
>of language acquisition, that is, speaking, listening, reading, writing.
>And while this islanguage skills based, we are considering a life skills as
>well as a job skills component, as well. Assessment is the next issue: The
>1992 version of the CAE program provides recommendations for testing
>materials, but does not specifically support any one testing tool with the
>idea that each learning population varies across the country. To review all
>of the recommended sources for assessment is months of work, which is not
>possible now.
>
>Question: What to do about assessment? CASAS is one way to go, but is
>pricey (the project I am working on has hardly any budget and is volunteer
>based). And, to add to the mix, time is very short--all this must be in
>place in a matter of weeks. We were informed that many learning facilities
>put together their own assessments, but I am concerned about reliability and
>validity issues.
>For this project I am leaning toward tripartite assessment measures, for
>example, (1) standard tests, (2) performance assessment (e.g., portfolios),
>and (3) teacher tests used together. But I really would appreciate any
>thoughts you would like to share about where to look for available tests to
>meet the content--hopefully--of the California curriculum model.
>
>Please know: I do not expect any miracles at this point. All I think we at
>the facility can hope for is some level of improvement for this next
>semester, with the idea that we will be continuing our efforts for
>improvement semester by semester.
>
>Any ideas? I am grateful as always for any help you can offer.
>
>Best regards,
>
>Judy