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Finally, when second language readers have the opportunity to use their dominant language todiscuss texts written in their second language, they reveal deeper understandings than they wereable to demonstrate when required to talk about them in English (Díaz, Moll, & Mehan, 1986).Itseems reasonable to assume that these factors may contribute to English language learners’ poorperformance on alternative assessments, unless they have been developed with English languagelearners in mind. These issues in the assessment of bilingual readers and particularly transitionalstudents, point to the need for continued exploration of effective assessment instruments that takeinto account the unique profile of bilingual readers.Background to the StudyThis study took place in an ethnically diverse urban school district in the West San FranciscoBay. Of the 8,500 students in the district, 49% were minority and 95% of those were Mexican-American. The district’s bilingual program had been in place for many years and followed themulti-year program design based on California’s “State Program for Students of Limited EnglishProficiency,” where students receive primary language instruction in content areas for four years,in addition to daily English as a second language instruction. Students begin English content areainstruction in science and/or math in fourth grade and language arts instruction in English in fifthgrade. Students who enter after kindergarten are placed in primary language or English contentarea instruction based on their school background and language proficiency test scores.During the study the district was in the fourth year of a major standards-based reform effort inlanguage arts, mathematics, and social studies,K-8. The district had changed from astandardized, norm-referenced test to a Performance-Based Assessment (PBA) given at second,fifth, and seventh grades. In general, English learners had scored poorly in the first few years ofthe PBA. Many of the district’s bilingual teachers had been involved in scoring the districtassessment and believed the English learners’ poor performance was indicative of aninappropriate instrument rather than a reflection of the students’ abilities. They were particularlyconcerned that the reading level, vocabulary, content, and thematic focus of the readingselections were inappropriate for these students. After trying several alternative approaches andaccommodations, teachers in the bilingual department proposed the development of analternative assessment specifically designed for the transitional bilingual students. This paperdiscusses the results of the first administration of this teacher-developed alternative assessment.MethodParticipantsThe primary participants in the study were 89 fifth-grade students in transition, completing theirfirst year of English language arts instruction. All were from lower socio-economic status (SES),Mexican-American homes where Spanish was the primary language. While the criterion fortransitioning to English instruction was grade level reading in Spanish, in practice many studentswere transitioned before that level of proficiency was reached. The test development workgroupconsisted of 10 teachers, the director of bilingual education, and two consultants from theWestEd Regional Educational Laboratory. The teachers were either state certified bilingualteachers or Specially Designed Academic Instruction in English (SDAIE) teachers who hadparticipated in specialized training in effective techniques for teaching transitional students. Thedirector of bilingual education and the regional laboratory consultants all had extensiveinstructional experience with English language learners and alternative assessment and advanceddegrees in linguistics and education.© 2008 Dr. Catherine CollierAll Rights Reserved167