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California schools now have two screening instruments that use playful games and stories to test 4-year-olds’ language skills without making them cry.
The California Department of Education this spring approved two language screeners for use in transitional kindergarten to replace the English Language Proficiency Assessment for California (ELPAC), which lawmakers barred schools from administering to TK students two years ago.
All K-12 students who speak languages other than English at home are required to take the ELPAC within 30 days of enrollment to determine their English proficiency. But teachers and advocates reported some TK students fluent in English were identified as English learners simply because they were too young to be tested. Some teachers said the experience caused some 4-year-olds to cry and put their heads down on their desks or simply refuse to answer questions.
The ELPAC measures reading and writing skills that most 4-year-olds have not yet developed, advocates and researchers said. Researchers said screening instruments for this age group should instead measure speaking and understanding and use games, stories and conversation designed for young children.
A 2024 study by New America and the American Institutes for Research found that 22 states and Washington, D.C. screen students to identify English learners before kindergarten. The two screeners selected for use in California are among the most common, with each used in nine other states.
Alesha Moreno-Ramirez, director of the state education department’s Multilingual Support Division, said the two approved screening tests are developmentally appropriate for 4-year-olds, can test in more than one language and can be administered across the state.
The screeners “provide an educator insights so that perhaps they’ll use a different kind of scaffolding, or perhaps they’ll bring in additional resources, or maybe they’ll bring in literature in different languages and introduce them into their TK classroom,” said Moreno-Ramirez.
One of the screeners, IPT Early Childhood, uses a story board and pieces, including characters and objects, to assess a child’s understanding and speaking through storytelling. In a demonstration video, an examiner reads a story little by little and asks the student questions.
“Sarah’s mother calls the children to come to the picnic table. So what do you think Jack and Sarah are going to do?” she asks.
“They’re going to eat at the picnic table,” answers the child.
The other screener, preLAS, uses colorful pictures to assess proficiency. In one of its four sections, the examiner shows the student pictures of eyes and ears and asks them to point to their own eye or ear. In another section, labeled “Art Show,” the examiner shows the student a drawing of children looking at paintings of a dog and cat and asks them to describe what is happening. Students are also asked to repeat phrases as well as listen to a story and retell it as the examiner points to the pictures.
“I feel very pleased that we’re no longer using an assessment that’s developmentally inappropriate for younger children,” said Carolyne Crolotte, director of policy at Early Edge California, a nonprofit that advocated to exempt TK students from taking the ELPAC.
Texas has used preLAS to measure English language proficiency for pre-K and kindergarten students since 2019. Henry Castellanos, principal of Delco Elementary School in Austin, said he administered it many times as a bilingual reading interventionist.
“I definitely feel like it was a good read and measure on where students were,” Castellanos said. “All the components are very age appropriate.”
Castellanos spent his elementary school years in the early 2000s in West Covina. He spoke Spanish at home with his parents, but said he gradually lost much of the language as he became proficient in English and could not keep up with peers or cousins when he would visit Mexico.
At the time, California had severely restricted bilingual education, while Texas continued building its bilingual programs.
“Knowing what I know now, I’m like, dang, I missed out on so many opportunities, because it was literally all English the whole time,” he said.
Both California screening exams can also be used to measure Spanish language skills, which advocates said is important for children who speak Spanish at home, so teachers can understand their vocabulary and expression in their home language. However, they cannot be used in other languages.
The two screeners will be piloted this school year in some California school districts, and then rolled out to all school districts in 2027-28. Moreno-Ramirez said the field testing is not intended to check whether the test is reliable or useful, but rather to inform guidance, training and access.
“It will help us identify any sticking points related to rollout,” said Moreno-Ramirez.
Under state law, the new screeners cannot be used to officially identify transitional kindergarten students as English learners, which means schools will not be able to get federal funding for those children until they enter kindergarten. To make up for the state funding that schools would have received for English learners through the Local Control Funding Formula, the Legislature made a temporary fix to allow schools to use the percentage of English learners in kindergarten to approximate the percentage of English learners in transitional kindergarten and receive similar funding, but only until 2027. In order to receive funding for these students after 2027, the Legislature would have to pass another law.
In addition, schools are not required by law to provide students who are not officially identified as English learners with language services. Nor are they required to report their academic or language progress on the California School Dashboard.
“We’re hoping educators feel compelled to support their students based on their understanding of their multilingual experience,” Moreno-Ramirez said. “We want to make sure that we’re not just thinking about providing supports and services for those students for whom it’s required by federal law, but also thinking about the opportunity for kids in the earliest years that we recognize their linguistic assets.”
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