Achievement Levels for IDEA English Language Proficiency Test (IPT)

Achievement Levels for IDEA English Language Proficiency Test (IPT)
Grades Nine through Twelve
The IDEA English Language Proficiency Test (IPT) standards at grades nine through twelve address the
domains of Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing as appropriate to the needs of students at grades nine
through twelve.
Novice Low Level
Students performing at the Novice Low Level use various forms of non-verbal communication to
express ideas and demonstrate basic comprehension. They may point, touch, match, draw, act out,
demonstrate an action, or play games to show their understanding. Learning objectives focus on
distinguishing between minimal pairs, identifying meaning of non-verbal cues, developing basic
academic vocabulary, following one- and two-step directions with modeling, recognizing some
academic language conventions, recognizing and pronouncing most of the English alphabet, repeating
words and phrases correctly, speaking with simple words and phrases, developing phonemic
awareness, recognizing common environmental print, understanding directionality, recognizing
cardinal and ordinal numbers, locating and using resource materials, copying words and phrases,
developing an awareness of sentence styles, using basic conventions when writing, and recognizing
characteristics of American high schools.
Novice High Level
Students performing at the Novice High Level use simple words and phrases while continuing to use
forms of non-verbal communication to express ideas and demonstrate comprehension. They may use
pictures, actions, and limited verbal responses to show their understanding. Learning objectives focus
on distinguishing between minimal pairs, identifying meaning of non-verbal cues, developing basic
academic vocabulary, following one- and two-step directions with modeling, recognizing some
academic language conventions, recognizing and pronouncing most of the English alphabet, using tone
of voice and gestures to enhance meaning, preparing and delivering short presentations, increasing
phonemic awareness, recognizing common environmental print, identifying cognates, identifying
sequence in stories, using resource materials, copying words and phrases, writing simple sentences and
paragraphs with basic conventions, and recognizing characteristics of American high schools.
Intermediate Low Level
Students performing at the Intermediate Low Level use limited vocabulary to participate in discussions on
familiar topics spoken at normal speed. Periods of momentary silence may occur. In addition, they may use
forms of non-verbal communication to demonstrate comprehension. Learning objectives focus on
demonstrating an understanding of English phonemes, knowing the essential content of messages and
greetings, following one- and two-step directions, demonstrating comprehension of various literary genres,
participating in group discourse, using tone of voice and gestures to enhance meaning, applying
grammatical patterns in speech, incorporating idioms, self-correcting basic vocabulary and grammar,
retelling and restating, making predictions, identifying basic text features, identifying elements of fiction
and non-fiction, using reference materials, discerning cultural variations represented in texts, learning
guided note-taking, writing paragraphs on familiar topics, editing their own writing, and recognizing
characteristics of American high schools.
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