Abstract
Purpose. The purposes of the study were to describe the academic growth of second language learners with a primary language of Spanish over two academic years as measured by traditional norm-referenced achievement tests and alternative performance measures and to determine the degree to which a relationship exists between the students' scores on both forms of assessment. Methodology. The study used descriptive and correlational research. The population was 108 limited-English proficient (LEP) students with a primary language of Spanish. The traditional assessments included four subtests from Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills (CTBS). The IDEA Proficiency Test and a descriptive writing sample were the alternative performance assessments used. Raw scores and normal curve equivalent (NCE) scores were used to describe the CTBS scores. Growth on performance measures was described by raw score increases. The Pearson r was used to determine relationships. Findings and conclusions. Student academic growth was more evident on the performance-based measures than on the traditional CTBS measures. After one year, the CTBS language arts scores were only two to five points above chance. After two years, they were only four to six points above chance. While the CTBS math computation normal curve equivalent (NCE) scores were near.40 each year; the reading comprehension and vocabulary (NCE) scores, ranging between.18 and.25, consistently decreased from pretest to posttest. The performance-based language arts measures, on the other hand, showed steady improvement. After year one, 70 percent of the performance scores increased and only 4 percent decreased. After two years, 85 percent of these scores increased and none of the scores decreased. By the end of the second year, scores on both performance-based measures indicated that LEP students were approaching competency. There was not a high correlation between scores on traditional and performance measures. Half of the correlations among language arts scores were at or below.40, and only four were above.50. From the study, the following conclusions were drawn: (1) performance-based assessments provide better opportunities for LEP students to show growth than do traditional measures; (2) traditional tests are not capable of validly measuring lower level second language learners in language arts; (3) LEP students score better on traditional tests that are not dependent on knowledge of English; and (4) multiple measures are needed to express the academic progress of LEP students.