Notes: Achievement Tests and Elementary ESOL Exit Criteria: An Evaluation

Abstract

This evaluation examines the process through which the Dade County Public School’ limited English proficient (LEP) students are “exited” (i.e., classified as language proficient) from the English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Program. Five hundred LEP students participated in the evaluation. The results indicate that student who exit the ESOL program tend to perform successfully in regular classroom settings. Additionally, the Stanford Achievement Test discriminates between LEP and non-LEP student performance on language-related components of the test. Nevertheless, questions were raised about the appropriateness of using achievement test results to exit students from ESOL.