Alignment
Alignment of standards and assessments is critical in preparing English Language Learners (ELLs) for success. It provides the connection between what is expected and what is assessed. The goal of this area of research is twofold:
1. To understand the relationship between English language proficiency (ELP) standards and English language proficiency tests; and
2. To understand the relationship between English language proficiency standards and academic content standards.
An aligned system is one that is optimized towards reaching high academic standards for students (Hansche, 1998). In a well-aligned system, expectations of student learning and assessments should agree on the underlying concepts. As such, alignment is closely connected to standards-based reform that began with the formulation of content standards by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics in 1989 (Gottlieb, 2006) and an essential component for compliance with the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. An aligned educational system links content standards, curriculum, instruction, assessment, and professional development to guide student learning in achieving educational goals (CCSO, 2006).
The alignment methodology we are using (Cook & Wilmes, 2007) enhances previous methods of alignment (Webb, 1997) by expanding the concept of alignment from mere match between tests and standards to also include considerations of the comparability, of cognitive expectations, and coverage, or the degree to which standards are fully represented on a test. This is done by evaluating the following three criteria:
- Match--how well the assessment/standard matches content expectations
- Depth--the degree of complexity within content expectations that are resident in the test/standard
- Breadth--how well tests/standards cover content expectations
WIDA alignment studies are conducted with the Web Alignment Tool (WAT). This free tool may be accessed at:
Web Alignment Tool (WAT)
ELP Standards to ELP Test Alignment
WIDA to ACCESS Alignment Study 
ELP Standards to Academic Content Standards Alignment
KY Alignment Study
Coming soon! ELP Alignment Materials
Background