A joint project by the World-Class Instructional Design and Assessment (WIDA) Consortium and the Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL) hopes to offer states a way to assess the proficiency of English-language learners (ELLs) in science and math while bypassing language barriers. The web-based Obtaining Necessary Parity through Academic Rigor (ONPAR) test would measure content knowledge—and control for English proficiency—by reducing the amount of English-language text, providing first-language audio support, and incorporating graphic support. The ONPAR website describes it as “a separate yet parallel assessment…aligned to both content standards and regular large-scale state assessments.”
The initial pilot tests for ONPAR’s science section were conducted in 2008; the development team is now preparing to field test this section. The math section is being pilot tested this fall.
“There are two projects, one for science, one for math,” explains James Bauman, ONPAR project director and senior researcher at CAL. He notes the tests have been designed for only two grades, fourth and eighth. “We’re seeking school district-level participation for [the science] field test.”
Several districts, including schools in North Carolina and Louisiana, have already signed on, but Bauman says more would be welcomed. “We’re interested in having more variety among the test takers. It’s been trialed with native English speakers [and] some ELLs [with many different language backgrounds] at various proficiencies, but we would also like to include students with special needs [such as students with learning disabilities or who are deaf or hard of hearing].”
Ultimately, the designers hope ONPAR will allow states “to more equitably and meaningfully include ELLs” when determining their Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), according to the website. The field test includes an ONPAR tutorial and 30 science questions, which should take students about an hour and 15 minutes to complete. Testing is done on school computers, so “schools must have infrastructure and high-speed internet connections for data transfer,” Bauman says. “The results will be used to construct an operational test [and to] establish its credentials as a testing instrument.”
The WIDA Consortium includes 20 partner states: Alabama, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, Virginia, and Wisconsin. For more information on ONPAR, visit www.onpar.us, or e-mail Bauman at jim@cal.org.