View Content #21461

From http://blog.tesol.org/what-you-need-to-include-in-an-ell-needs-assessment/

Nathan Hall writes, “There will be some familiar faces at the end of summer as well as new students who you have little data about beyond their placement test scores or previous school records. Those can indicate the level of instruction for grouping purposes, but to really find out what students at the secondary level already know and need to learn, it helps to do a needs assessment early in the school year. That’s why I start each session with a few assessments, such as icebreaker games or short writings, to understand where students are starting from and to get an idea of what the most pressing needs may be so I can tailor the instruction to their needs.

“After developing, changing, scrapping, and redeveloping those tests about a dozen times, I found some things to keep in mind before handing them to students.”

Read on for a few suggestions: http://blog.tesol.org/what-you-need-to-include-in-an-ell-needs-assessment/