English Learner Formative Assessment (ELFA) Project
The English Learner Formative Assessment (ELFA) is a four-year research project that began in 2010. This project is funded by the Institute of Education Sciences at the U.S. Department of Education (Grant No: R305A100724). In collaboration with the National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, & Student Testing (CRESST) at UCLA, a team of researchers and assessment specialists at ETS has worked on the development of a classroom-based, academic reading comprehension assessment tool that teachers can use with their English learners (ELs) for formative purposes.
The ELFA tool:
- can be used as part of instructional materials for teachers to assess, understand and adapt instruction based on student learning evidence.
- targets middle-school EL students who receive ESL services to improve their English language proficiency and who have at least an intermediate level of English proficiency.
- addresses the critical need to support this population's (including long-term ELs) development of the academic reading comprehension skills needed to be successful in English-only content classes.
The purpose of this website is to disseminate the ELFA materials as useful resource materials for the teachers of EL students.
Use the links above to access all available materials regarding ELFA and to see a selection of sample assessments.
The research reported here was supported by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, through Grant R305A100724 to ETS. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not represent views of the Institute or the U.S. Department of Education.