John W. Young, PhD - Student Achievement Partners

Ensuring Valid and Fair Content Assessments for Language Minority Students (86 min.) LEARNING OBJECTIVES: 1. Define English language learners and identify different categories of English language learners (ELLs) in the United States. 2. Describe validity issues in assessing English language learners by two sets of No Child Left behind (NCLB) requirements: Title III and Title I. 3. List significant obstacles in conducting research on the validity of Title I assessments. 4. Identify different indicators of test comparability to evaluate assessments taken by language minority students. ABSTRACT: In this intermediate-level webinar, Dr. Young discusses and describes the testing needs of English Language Learners (ELL) and some accommodations offered to ELLs in different states in the U.S. His discussion includes an explanation of validation methods particularly in the context of testing ELL students and identifies some potential problems that can occur. He concludes by presenting two ELL-relevant studies conducted by the College Board. (LENGTH: 86 minutes) BIOGRAPHY: Dr. John W. Young is the Senior Research Fellow at Student Achievement Partners. He was the head of research at the International Baccalaureate, where he worked as the top research executive for a global organization that serves more than one million students worldwide. Dr. John W. Young previously was a Research Director and Senior Research Scientist in the Center for Validity Research at the Educational Testing Service where he directed validity research on English language learners. He was a faculty member for 17 years in the Educational Statistics, Measurement, and Evaluation program at Rutgers University. He received his Ph.D. in educational measurement from Stanford University in 1989 and has widely published his research in journal articles and book chapters.