The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act has made a great impact on states' policies in assessing English language learner (ELL) students. The legislation requires states to develop or adopt sound assessments in order to validly measure the ELL students' English language proficiency (ELP), as well as content knowledge and skills. Although states have moved rapidly to meet these requirements, they face challenges to validate their current assessment and accountability systems for ELL students, partly due to the lack of resources. Considering the significant role of assessments in guiding decisions about organizations and individuals, it is of paramount importance to establish a valid assessment system. In light of this, we reviewed the current literature and policy regarding ELL assessment in order to inform practitioners of the key issues to consider in their validation processes. Drawn from our review of literature and practice, we developed a set of guidelines and recommendations for practitioners to use as a resource to improve their ELL assessment systems. We have compiled a series of three reports. The present report is the first component of the series, containing pertinent literature related to assessing ELL students. The areas being reviewed include validity theory, the construct of ELP assessments, and the effects of accommodations in the assessment of ELL students' content knowledge.

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The purpose of this study is to examine the characteristics of reading test items that may differentially impede the performance of students with disabilities. By examining the relationship between select item features and performance, the study seeks to inform strategies for increasing the accessibility of reading assessments for individuals from this group. Including students with disabilities in large-scale, statewide assessment and accountability systems, as mandated by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 2004) and the "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB) Act of 2001 (NCLB, 2002), can help identify issues and guide instruction to improve education for these students. Research on reading complexities for students has primarily focused on the role of vocabulary and sentence length, and has also touched upon issues of legibility such as format, typeface, and visuals. Although research reveals that readability measures are widely used and beneficial for matching students' reading levels with appropriate text, they do not identify the precise grammatical and cognitive components within sentences, paragraphs, or passages that may contribute to complexity for students with disabilities. While current research does address the critical need to accurately assess the reading performance of students with disabilities, a void in operationalizing reading complexity exists.

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