Assessment is a more comprehensive process. An assessor examines all or some developmental areas to determine what children do well and how they might need help.

An assessment occurs in multiple phases. Educators and evaluators do not automatically conduct a formal evaluation at the first hint of a concern. The Head Start Program Performance Standards define assessment as a three-part process:

• Screening
• Ongoing (developmental) assessment
• Formal evaluation

An assessment should detail a child’s strengths and struggles; it should use a wide range of data to recommend how best to serve them.

Reasons for Assessment

There are five reasons why educators may want to conduct an assessment.

1. Establish baseline function, which can include various developmental domains (e.g. expressive/ receptive language, vocabulary, etc.)
2. Identify areas of strength and areas of need. In order to identify these areas, we need to be able to describe strengths and weaknesses relative to the developmental sequence for children of similar age and socio-cultural conditions. Therefore, we need to compare the performance of children who are multilingual learners with the performance of other children who are multilingual learners in similar developmental and socio-cultural environments. To identify an area of weakness, we need to be able to determine if a lack of particular skills is impacting the child’s daily activities (family life, school, social well-being). This will also help us understand the degree or severity of the impairment.
3. Examine functional performance across:
   • Both languages
   • Different settings (home, school, community, etc.)
   • Communication partners (parents, child care providers, family members), as these communication partners may interact with the child in different languages
   • Comfort levels (with familiar vs. unfamiliar people)
   • Time of day (early morning vs. afternoon)
4. Establish goals for instruction/intervention. The assessment should yield information that is based on functional and developmental outcomes.
5. Measure change that results from instruction or intervention. This information could help us best determine:

• • Whether the goals or objectives implemented in the instruction or intervention have been met.
  • When to change or modify goals.
  • When to dismiss potential concerns.

Developmentally appropriate Approaches

To be most useful, assessments should include tasks and questions that are developmentally appropriate, meaning they should match what a child can typically do and understand at their age.

Young children, especially multilingual learners, show a range of receptive and expressive linguistic behaviors on any given day. Children may seem to understand and express more when they are more interested or familiar with the topic. Therefore, it is useful to note each child’s responsiveness and expressive use of language during daily activities, including play.

Observing and documenting how a child understands and uses language is a fine art. Educators need ongoing training to refine that art.

Educators should talk with family members about a child’s interests and how they learn best. With this knowledge, they can compare and confirm what they have observed and documented in class.

Assessment approaches of children who are MLLs should:

• Assess all languages. Many children who are MLLs have language and conceptual knowledge across all the languages they use.
• Account for context-specific vocabulary, such as home and school vocabulary. A child may not learn school vocabulary items (colors, shapes, classroom items) at home or home vocabulary items (furniture, rooms, kinship terms, culturally specific foods, certain games) at school.
• Consider the impact of the first language on how children speak the second language. For example, speakers of some varieties of Spanish delete the final consonant in words, and they may initially use that sound pattern in English. Educators should ask themselves whether this difference is a disorder, OR as in this case, it is a result of the influence of Spanish on speaking English. Therefore, we would not consider this to be a disorder but a difference (in this case, an accent).
• Educators also need to be aware that differences in language performance may not be due a language disorder but instead may result from different levels of exposure and experience in various languages. This shows the expectations educators may have regarding children who are MLLs. For instance, some may expect that children who are bilingual are equally proficient in both languages (known as balanced bilinguals), but being equally proficient in both languages is actually rare. Remember that all language development is dynamic, especially for children who are multilingual learners, as they are exposed to and use different “amounts” of other languages.

Data sources

Educators need to gather multiple sources of data when assessing multilingual learners, especially when looking at their language development in the home language and in the primary language of their group care and education setting.

Families

Again, families are key sources of information about how much and how often a child is exposed to different languages. Educators cannot assume that a child has not been exposed to English just because the primary language in their home is not English. If a child has had rich exposure to their home language, they have a strong foundation of linguistic systems on which to develop subsequent languages. Ongoing communication with families helps educators know what and how a child is learning at home. Educators can use this information in everyday instructional planning and implementation in the classroom.

Ongoing observation notes help educators see a child’s progress and interests.

• Which vocabulary words and sentences is a child using?
• What sentences and questions does a child respond to appropriately?
• What do the child’s work samples of early drawing, scribbling, and name writing show?

Educators build on each child’s daily progress in understanding and expression, using their interests to continue language and literacy development.

Standardized assessment tools

Standardized tools provide another source of data about each child’s progress. These tools must be used with caution, however, when used with children who are multilingual learners. Educators can use a screening assessment, such as the English and Spanish Pre-Language Assessment Scales 2000, to determine the most appropriate language of assessment. They may also consider using a conceptually scored bilingual assessment to gauge children’s skills independent of language.

Educators must use appropriate assessment tools, or they will make inappropriate educational decisions; these decisions can affect the child and his family for a lifetime.

If a child who is a multilingual learner is assessed only in English, the results may underestimate the child’s knowledge and skills.

View this video clip (12:28) of a child learning and using a different language. As you watch, take notes of your observations.

Now that you’ve completed your observation notes, think about what you saw and heard.

• What does the child seem to understand, and how do you know?
• How much English and Spanish is the child using?
• What seems to interest the child?
• How did the teacher support language development?

references

Bandel, E., Atkins-Burnett, S., Castro, D. Wulsin, C., Putnam, M. (2012). Examining the use of language and literacy assessments with young dual language learners: Final Report. Chapel Hill, NC: Center for Early Care and Education Research-Dual Language Learners. [Journal article]

DeAvila, E.A., & Duncan, S. E. (2000). PreLAS 2000 technical manual. Monterey, CA: CTB/McGraw-Hill.

Itahashi, M. (2012, July 5). Spanish-English bilingual classrooms. [Video file]