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Research Studies


ELDA Research Studies


Validation Studies

The Center for the Study of Assessment Validity and Evaluation at the University of Maryland designed and analyzed two sets of studies investigating the validity of the assessment. The first set of studies was designed to investigate whether the items were addressing the intended knowledge and skills, that is, to assess the construct integrity of the items. The second set of studies investigated the validity of interpretations and decisions based on the ELDA assessments. Researchers concluded that the various analyses conducted provide evidence that

  1. Item difficulty in ELDA, for the most part, is not an artifact of minute, unimportant details, but rather the measurement of relevant, ever increasing, complex skill sets of language proficiency; and
  2. The complexity analyses and the teacher rating findings lend credence to the validity of the items, in general, as they discriminate in difficulty. They also provide solid evidence of the validity of the ability of the ELDA test to generally discriminate by the specified performance levels.

Supplemental Materials

  1. Field Test Validity Study Results: English Language Development Assessment. Final Report, October 2004. Rebecca Kopriva, Director Center for the Study of Assessment Validity.
  2. ELDA, English Language Proficiency Standards and Specifications for Grades 3-12. American Institutes for Research. October, 2005.
  3. ELDA, Technical Report 2004 Field Test Administration. American Institutes for Research. October, 2005.
  4. ELDA, Technical Report 2005 Field Test Administration. American Institutes for Research. October, 2005.
  5. ELDA K-2 Technical Manual. Spring 2006. CCSSO & Measurement, Inc.
  6. Final Report on ELDA Standard Setting. Michael B. Bunch, Measurement Incorporated. February 2006.
  7. Aligning English Language Proficiency Tests to English Language Standards. H.Gary Cook, PhD. December, 2005

Other Research Studies

Additional support for the psychometric rigor of the ELDA assessment is as follows:

  1. Analysis of the 3-12 (2005) field test results [and data files]
  2. Technical Report for Field Test 2004 [and data files]
  3. Analysis of K-2 field test results [statistical analysis, teacher evaluations]
  4. Standard setting reports K-12
  5. Report of equating, scaling scoring procedures
  6. A report describing the Webb alignment process modified for English proficiency tests, including a step-by-step planning, training, and implementation guide; and
  7. Revised Performance Level Descriptors for ELDA K-2.




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document last updated 1/14/2010