Illinois mandates services for English learners, which for Transitional Bilingual Education (TBE) programs, includes native language instruction in language arts, math, science, and social studies. For ELs eligible for full-time TBE, district guidance recommends 80% instruction in the native language in preschool and 80-50% of instruction in the native language for K-2 students (instruction in dual language classrooms follows a more detailed language allocation for each grade level and content area). The language of assessment should reflect and align to the language of instruction in order to more accurately assess content knowledge without language proficiency being a significant barrier. When the TBE program is in Spanish, schools have a variety of assessments available in both English and Spanish and it is important to select Spanish assessments to determine if the students are acquiring the necessary concepts and skills. Adherence to this will provide more accurate results on literacy assessments as the language barrier will be reduced. Spanish Speaking English Learners Non Spanish Speaking English Learners

• Full-time Spanish TBE eligible students receiving instruction in Spanish should be assessed in the language of instruction (Spanish).
• Students eligible for Part-time TBE (in general, scoring 3.5 or higher on the literacy language proficiency when assessed using ACCESS or a screener or 4.0 in oral language proficiency for Kindergarten ELs on the EL Screener
• ), could be tested in both languages, depending on the proportion of instruction in English and Spanish.
• Only Part-time TBE eligible students, who receive the majority of their instruction in English, should be tested exclusively in English. ○ Results should be interpreted with caution as students are still developing their English language.
• Students with the score of 3.

5 or higher on the literacy language proficiency or 4.0 in oral language proficiency for when screened during the first semester of Kindergarten on the EL Screener may participate with caution. ○ Results should be interpreted with considerations of other factors such as English language proficiency and program year. ○ Results for assessments in English for ELs with lower proficiencies than those listed above would not be reliable (more indicative of English proficiency than content knowledge), so testing in English is not recommended

• Please note: oral language proficiency level is applicable to Kindergartners only when screened in the 1st semester
• Please note that even though the percentage of instruction in English and Spanish might shift slightly throughout the academic year, it is crucial to assess in the same language at different times during the same school year, so that educators can see growth and not have test scores that could reflect the different language of assessment rather than true measure of growth.