[ELPA] District Test Coordinators and Title III Directors

[WHITE Cari]

To: District Test Coordinators and Title III Directors
Re: ELPA Scores

This year, ODE moved to a new administration system of ELPA which included enhancements designed to better assess student's English language proficiency and make the test more user friendly.   Some districts have reported concerns that their students are scoring higher on ELPA this year, compared to last year. ODE staff sincerely hope that the higher scores are the result of a greater focus on instructional best practice that increased student learning. However, we want to proceed with caution and ensure that students who still need ELL services are not being exited prematurely. Our goal is to ensure that student scores accurately reflect students' true level of English language proficiency.

Based on the two initial sets of ELPA data scored to date, ODE believes that it is possible that the enhancements may have had a greater than anticipated impact on student scores.  In order to ensure the consistency of scores from year to year, ODE staff will conduct an additional item-level analysis to determine if scores need to be adjusted, taking into consideration the enhancements to the system.

In order to minimize confusion over scores, ODE staff has asked for previously posted ELPA data to be temporarily removed from the OAKS online reporting system starting Thursday, April 29.  This data will be reposted once the data review has been completed.  Please share this information with district staff who access this data through the OAKS reporting system.

ODE will provide updates on this situation during the coming weeks.  ODE understands that districts are in the process of making important decisions based in part on these scores and we recommend that you take this information into consideration as you make those decisions.  As always, district staff should follow their approved exiting criteria when making exiting decisions.

If you have questions about this or other topics, please feel free to contact your Regional ESD Partner.

Crystal Greene
Communications Coordinator
Office of Assessment and Information Services
Oregon Department of Education
(503) 947-5878
crystal.greene at state.or.us<mailto:crystal.greene at state.or.us>
 Messages to & from this e-mail address may be made available to the public under Oregon law.


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