This fall, Pearson is launching TELL (Test of English Language Learning), a tablet-based assessment developed to help schools assess progress of English Language Learners (ELLs). TELL will employ one of the most tried and tested automated scoring technologies to give teachers quick access to the information they need to inform instruction, while providing district leaders with the data they need to meet state and federal reporting requirements.
“English language learners are the fastest growing student population in the U.S. and 60% of those students are in elementary school. When we talked to school and district assessment directors as well as English language teaching specialists from around the country, they emphasized the critical need for a new and engaging approach to measuring English language proficiency that accurately diagnoses students’ needs and monitors their progress,” said Alistair Van Moere, Ph.D., head of Pearson’s Assessment Product Solutions.
TELL is an interactive assessment. Students watch video clips and interact with pictures and words, then answer questions out loud. They listen, write, read, and speak — all with no mark-ups or grading by teachers. TELL screens, diagnoses, and monitors each ELL student’s progress throughout the school year.
Student responses — written and spoken — are automatically scored by Pearson’s automated scoring technologies, providing teachers with access to results within minutes. Over the past 15 years, Pearson’s spoken and written language assessment technologies have scored millions of responses and are supported by research studies that demonstrate that they score as accurately as an expert human grader.
Pearson senior product manager Paula Hidalgo, Ph.D., said, “We leveraged the power of our research-based automated scoring technologies combined with the interactivity of the tablet environment to develop a tool to measure students’ English language proficiency at key points during the school year in a flexible, reliable, and consistent way.”
The test can be used with just one student at a time, a small to large group, or for whole-class administration at the school or district level. The assessment is aligned to today’s rigorous standards.
www.PearsonAssessments.com/TELL
