Common Core testing group announces accommodations for bilingual students

EdWeek reports that the Smarter Balanced consortium, one of the two national consortia charged with creating the tests that will be aligned with the Common Core standards, recently announced the nature of the supports that will be allowed during their assessments. The announcement included accommodations for both students with disabilities and English learners. The tests have three categories of digital features: "universal tools, which are available to all students; designated supports, which are available to students at a teacher’s or school team’s discretion; and documented accommodations, which are supports that are a part of a student’s individualized education plan or other disability support plan". Perhaps most interesting (to me, at least) is the inclusion of limited translation options, as a designated support, for the math portion of the assessment. This includes the provision of word-to-word translation as well as full item translation.

Currently the full array will be available in Spanish with a more limited set of options in Vietnamese and Arabic. The point is also made that these supports are "designated" because some states may have laws that preclude any type of instruction or assessment in a language other than English (read: AZ and MA), though supporters note that, with increasing standardization of how ELs are assessed (via the WIDA) there may be a rigorous basis for comparing whether these supports aid performance for students in states that use them and states that don't.  Here is the release from the consortium itself.