Spanish Language Progress Monitoring Assessments
In today’s diverse and inclusive educational landscape, it is crucial to address the unique needs of students with special needs. This includes those who are Multilingual Learners with Spanish as their primary language. For these students, their IEPs play an even more vital role in tailoring education to their specific requirements.
Spanish Language Reading Passages and Assessments
A key component of supporting their academic progress is the implementation of Spanish language progress monitoring assessments. These assessments not only aid in understanding students’ language development but also serve as valuable tools for measuring growth and ensuring educational success.
For that reason, our team has developed, and is continuing to produce, Spanish language progress monitoring assessments and reading passages. Currently, they can be found on some reading goals in Toolkit. This initial release consists of 17 reading goal pages with Spanish assessments in grades K- 5 and 320 translated passages at varying reading levels. We have plans to continue to add more assessments across subject areas in the coming months.
Goals with the small globe icon on the bottom right-hand corner will contain these resources.
Once you click on one of these goals, you can select English or Spanish in the Progress Monitoring Assessment section.
How are we going about doing this work?
The challenge of translating instructional resources is multifaceted if teachers are doing this work on their own. The process includes and is not limited to the following steps:
- Sourcing culturally appropriate passages to translate
- Translating them
- Editing to ensure the language is universal Spanish and not a specific dialect
- Editing to ensure the translation is at the appropriate Lexile level
- Editing to ensure the message is not “lost in translation”
Our team does this work so teachers can focus their efforts on developing inclusive and rigorous IEPs.
Rest assured, these assessments are not simply AI-generated translations of our English progress monitoring assessments. We have an entire team that engages in a process that we like to call transcreation. Transcreation moves beyond simply translating and addresses nuances like matching a student’s actual reading level and removing culturally specific references.
Why is this work important for students?
- Celebrating and leveraging language diversity. At Goalbook, we believe that the term English Language Learners or “ELLs” is an inherently limiting designation. Multilingual students possess a rich linguistic background that should be recognized and celebrated in the classroom. By incorporating Spanish language progress monitoring assessments, educators demonstrate a commitment to valuing and nurturing students’ primary language while supporting their English language development. This approach promotes a positive learning environment that fosters self-esteem and enhances cognitive development.
- Accuracy in assessing linguistic ability. To provide the most effective educational support, teachers must accurately assess students’ linguistic abilities. Traditional English-based assessments may not fully capture the true extent of these students’ knowledge and potential. By incorporating Spanish language assessments, educators gain a more comprehensive understanding of their students’ language proficiency and can tailor instruction accordingly.
- Identifying the right strategies to implement. Spanish language progress monitoring assessments offer critical insights into students’ strengths and areas for improvement. With this information, educators can design targeted instructional strategies that align with students’ individual needs, ensuring that the learning process is engaging, effective, and inclusive. Customizing instruction in this manner maximizes students’ opportunities for academic growth.
The Spanish Language assessments we are adding to Toolkit empower educators to better understand their students’ linguistic abilities, provide targeted support, and measure academic progress accurately.
At Goalbook, we believe that by embracing the linguistic diversity of students and incorporating their primary language into assessments, schools can create an inclusive environment that nurtures academic growth and cultural identity. This ensures that every student has the opportunity to reach their full potential.
Check out the goals linked below to explore the new Spanish language progress monitoring assessments!
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