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Academic English (AE) refers to the language used in school to help students acquire and use knowledge. This article reviews current literature to determine what is known about the nature of AE within the context of K–12 schooling. It describes how AE is conceptualized in the education research literature, how these conceptualizations are realized in instructional practices, and the implications of these conceptualizations for teacher education and professional development. The student population that is the primary focus of the article is English language learners, but the findings have implications for all students who struggle with learning AE. The article raises critical challenges in defining and operationalizing AE for instruction and suggests areas for further inquiry.

The objective was to examine the impact of different types of accommodations on performance in content tests such as mathematics. The meta-analysis included 14 U.S. studies that randomly assigned school-aged English language learners (ELLs) to test accommodation versus control conditions or used repeated measures in counter-balanced order. Individual effect sizes (Glass's d) were calculated for 50 groups of ELLs and 32 groups of non-ELLs. Individual effect sizes for English language and native language accommodations were classified into groups according to type of accommodation and timing conditions. Means and standard errors were calculated for each category. The findings suggest that accommodations that require extra printed materials need generous time limits for both the accommodated and unaccommodated groups to ensure that they are effective, equivalent in scale to the original test, and therefore more valid owing to reduced construct-irrelevant variance. Computer-administered glossaries were effective even when time limits were restricted. Although the Plain English accommodation had very small average effect sizes, inspection of individual effect sizes suggests that it may be much more effective for ELLs at intermediate levels of English language proficiency. For Spanish-speaking students with low proficiency in English, the Spanish test version had the highest individual effect size (+1.45).

Contents: Preface. C. Rivera, E. Collum, Introduction: Including and Accounting for English Language Learners in State Assessment Systems. C. Rivera, E. Collum, L.S. Willner, J.K. Sia, Jr., Study 1: An Analysis of State Assessment Policies Regarding Accommodation of English Language Learners. C.W. Stansfield, M. Bowles, Study 2: Test Translation and State Assessment Policies for English Language Learners. M.L. Thurlow, D. Albus, K.K. Liu, C. Rivera, Study 3: State Practices for Reporting Participation and Performance of English Language Learners in State Assessments. C. Rivera, E. Collum, Conclusion.

Many people in education hope that reform will bring positive change for all students in the United States. However, Mark LaCelle-Peterson and Charlene Rivera argue in this article that, unless educational reformers reflect seriously on the implications of assessment reform for specific groups of students, among them students whose first language is not English, little meaningful change will occur. The authors present a demographic profile of English language learners, propose a definition of educational equity and excellence, and outline the range of educational goals the definition implies. They argue that it is erroneous to assume that changes that affect monolingual English students favorably will automatically do the same for English language learners, and offer options and recommendations for more appropriate assessment policy and practice for English language learners.

Passage of the Bilingual Education Act in 1968, the upholding of the Lau vs. Nichols decision in 1974, and the subsequent “Remedies” Task Force of 1975 have focused attention on the identification of language minority students based on their English language proficiency. The legal assumption, as seen through the Remedies, is that it is possible to measure language minority students’ language proficiency and, based on this assessment, to make recommendations for their placement in monolingual, English as a Second Language (ESL), and/or Bilingual Education programs. The issues of language assessment and placement raise several important questions which are the focus of this article. • What are the basic premises upon which current language assessment instruments have been developed? • What is the state of the art in language proficiency assessment? • What implications do current research findings have for language proficiency assessment?

The focus of this volume is on those theoretical, psychometric and practical issues which pose a challenge to the measurement of language proficiency. The complexity and difficulty of defining communicative competence and identifying valid and appropriate approaches for its measurement among students with limited English skills is reflected both by the researchers and educators who contributed to the volume. In addition to, adding, highlighting, positing or negating current findings and perspectives regarding communicative competence, the perspectives represented in the volume, provide valuable information about the nature of children's language use, its assessment and the role of first and second language in academic achievement. The book is divided into two sections which demonstrate the need for continued multidisciplinary dialogue among researchers and practitioners. Approaches to Communicative Competence This part of the book centers on current perspectives and research. The individual chapters in their diversity, pose a challenge both for those attempting to use communicative competence to interpret the results of currently used language proficiency measures as well as for those attempting to develop valid language assessment instruments from a communicative competence perspective. Application The attempt to better understand communicative competence has resulted in a wide range of applied research within the context of bilingual and immersion education. The chapters, included here are representative of the research undertaken to explore practical and valid ways to assess language competencies and to define their role in the educational placement of students with limited English skills.