News & Events

The Latest on CAAELP

Important Announcement Regarding This Alt ELPA-Focused Website

With the Alt ELPA assessment now operational and fully incorporated into the ELPA21 suite of assessments, the Alt ELPA-focused websites altelpa.org and caaelp.org are scheduled to be taken offline on March 31, 2024. Moving forward, all information and updates related to the Alt ELPA summative assessment will be available on the ELPA21 website at https://elpa21.org/alt-elpa/.

If you represent a school, district, or state education agency, and your organization has a website or other outreach materials that link to a page on altelpa.org, please make sure to update those links to the appropriate page on elpa21.org before March 31, 2024, to ensure seamless access to Alt ELPA informational resources.

We are committed to making this transition as smooth as possible. If you have any additional questions about where to find information and resources related to the Alt ELPA assessment, please reach out to info@elpa21.org, and we will be happy to assist you. In the meantime, here are some links you may find useful as you prepare for the transition:

Alt ELPA General Information
Alt ELPA Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Alt ELPA Accessibility and Accommodations Manual
Alt ELPA Sample Student Report
Parent Guide to Alt ELPA Student Reports (multi-language)
Educators Quick Guide to Understanding Score Reports
Alt ELPA Test Questions Brief

CAAELP Insider Newsletter

With the CAAELP Insider, you can get the latest news and events for the CAAELP project. This quarterly publication includes resources for educators, Community of Practice support, professional learning opportunities, and updates on the Alt ELPA. Click here to check out the most recent issue.

CAAELP Insider Newsletter
Assessment

Assessment

The assessment is underway. To ensure that the assessment is valid, reliable, and fair, the CAAELP team is incorporating educators’ experience and expertise with English learners, English learners with disabilities, students with significant cognitive disabilities, language pathology, assessment, curriculum and instruction, and policy.

 With educators’ critical review and input, the CAAELP team is implementing a principled approach to assessment design. At this point, we have developed several foundational documents: the statement of purpose and intended uses, a general student population definition, domain definitions, a proficiency definition, intended score interpretations and uses, policy and range performance level descriptors, assessment model and reporting category documentation, and blueprints.

Research

The team is hard at work carrying out the pilot and field tests. The Alt ELPA pilot begins in Year 3 (2021–2022) of the grant and the field test will be in Year 4 (2022–2023). 

For the pilot, the team is doing a deep dive. They are gathering information related to the appropriateness of item types and the accessibility of items to the range of students who will be administered the Alt ELPA. How well the items and the test provide students the opportunity to demonstrate what they know and can do in English will also be explored.

Drawing on insights from educators familiar with ELs with the most significant cognitive disabilities and a representative sample of students, the pilot will inform the refinement of the items and test. Preparation for the field test involves a series of simulation studies that explore different item calibration and scoring models and potential conditions that might affect test results. Using knowledge and available information about ELs with the most significant cognitive disabilities and other alternate assessments, student and item data are being generated for our simulation studies.

Using the generated data, different item calibration and scoring models are applied to identify optimal methods and examine how foreseeable conditions (e.g., missingness in student response data due to domain exemptions) might affect test results. The results of the simulation studies will inform the field test design as well as item calibration and scoring models.

Research

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