1. Score Reports Overview
WELPA 2013
Score Reports Overview
CTB/McGraw-Hill Trainer
Welcome to the WELPA Reports Overview Webinar. My name is [insert name] and I will be your facilitator today.

2. Objective
In this webinar, we will learn how to read and interpret the WELPA 2013 score reports.
The information may help you
communicate report scores with parents and families
use assessment data to plan instructional “next steps” for the class
In this webinar, we will learn how to read and interpret the score reports from the WELPA 2013 test administration. The information in this webinar may help you communicate report scores with parents and families, and use assessment data effectively to plan instructional next steps for class.

3. Two major types of score reports
Student Proficiency Report
Student-level information (proficiency levels and scale scores) for communicating with parents/families
Group List Report
List of all students in a group (class) with student-level test results (proficiency levels and scale scores)
Summary of group (class) performance (average scores)
Overall, Comprehension, Productive, Oral and Literacy scores are also provided
Intended for teacher/administrator use
There are two major types of score reports from the WELPA 2013 administration. One is the Student Proficiency Report. This is the report that you give to families of your students. The report provides student-level information that can be used to communicate with parents and families. The report contains scale scores and performance levels in graphic display, along with other facilitating information. Please note that the School package has 2 copies of the printed version of this report.
The Group List Report is a roster of all students in a group, which could be a class, showing the student-level test results. Overall, Comprehension, Productive, Oral and Literacy scores are also provided. Additionally, a summary of the group performance in terms of average scores is provided on the last page of each report. Your school decided how to group these students together when bundling tests for return to CTB to be scored, creating groups. This report is intended for teachers and administrators and can be used to inform instructional planning. Please note that this is only an electronic copy and is delivered in the district and state package.

4.
Overall, this student achieved the Intermediate proficiency level (Level 2); therefore, the student continues to receive TBIP services.
The student has an overall score of 455, and the score range is is only 3 points higher than the lower bound, 452, which shows that the student is at the lower end of Level 2 (Intermediate).
Updated 2013 version
Now, let’s look at a sample Student Proficiency Report. [click animation] If we look at row 1 we see that overall, this student achieved the intermediate proficiency level (Level 2); therefore, the student continues to stay in the TBIP or Transitional Bilingual Instructional Program. According to Title III requirements, if the student scored overall at Levels 1, 2, or 3 you are expected to send notice to families that their students will continue in the program. Those letters can be accessed from the Bilingual Program webpage in multiple languages.
[click animation] If you want to see how far along this student is in the assigned proficiency level, we can compare the student’s Overall scale score, which is 455, to the corresponding proficiency scale score range, which is 452 to 489. Since 455 is only 3 points above the lower bound of this range, 452, the student is at the lower end of Level 2 and is not close to achieving the next proficiency level, Level 3.
[click animation] There is also domain-level score information reported. For this student, we see that the student showed some strength in Reading (Level 2), but is not at Level 4 (the Transitional Level) yet, so the student needs support in Reading, and for Speaking, Listening, and Writing, the student achieved Level 1 or 2 for all of them and may need even more support in these domains as well.
This student’s overall abilities are not sufficiently developed, keeping the student at the low end of level 2. While the student’s highest score is in Reading (Level 2), which suggests receptive abilities in written material, listening abilities keep the overall comprehension at level 2 (Intermediate).  Comprehension includes Reading and Listening,.  Additionally, productive skills, including Speaking and Writing, are at Levels 1 and 2, suggesting that the student needs significant support in expressing him/herself orally and in writing.
The student showed strength in Reading (at Level 2 and is close to Level 3), but is not at Level 4 (Transitional) yet. The student needs considerable support in Speaking, Listening, Reading and Writing (all at Levels 1 and 2).

5. Performance definitions at the back of the Student Proficiency Report help you understand the meaning of each proficiency level.
One set of the PLD Translations document is provided for nine languages and is included in the School package.
More details about the test and proficiency levels can be found in the Interpretation Guide.
Updated 2013
If you have questions about what each proficiency level means, one way is to look at the back of the Student Proficiency Report. There you will find performance definitions for each level. For communicating with parents or families that speak a language other than English, you may find performance definition translations helpful. In addition to English there are translations in Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Russian, Somali, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese.
For more detailed information about the test and WELPA proficiency levels, you may find the Interpretation Guide to be a useful reference document. 2 printed copies of the guide are available in the School package.

6. This group (class) has 25 students in total
This group (class) has 25 students in total. The class mean scale score, or MSS, is within the Level 3 (Advanced) range for Listening and Reading, and is within the Level 1 (Beginning) range for Writing. Improvement in these three language domains should be considered in future instructional planning.
Updated for 2013
We’ve looked at information in the Student Proficiency Report; now let’s take a look at an example of the Group List Report. The last page of the report provides a summary of the group average scores. In this example, the group or class has 25 students in total, and the class mean scale scores, or MSS, are for Listening, for Reading, and for Writing.
The Comprehension score, a combination of Listening and Reading scores, provides educators with an overview of students’ understanding of spoken and written text.
Students’ comprehension skills in the Listening and Reading section of the test involve skills that range from recognizing word and sound relationships, processing and developing vocabulary through context, identifying patterns, to analyzing, inferring, and connecting meaning or ideas. The WELPA comprehension score can help educators and other stakeholders track the students’ comprehension development. Once students begin to internalize the language that they hear or read, they will begin to build a foundation to learn the language and support lifelong learning. In this example the class mean scale score is
The Productive score, a combination of the Speaking and Writing scores, provides educators with an overview of students’ ability to produce language. Language production, whether in written or in spoken form, is about creating meaning to express oneself. Measuring students’ productive skills can help teachers understand students’ skills and ability to interact and communicate in and out of the classroom. WELPA measures productive language at levels appropriate for students’ development and across social and academic contexts.
The Oral score, a combination of Listening and Speaking scores, demonstrates students’ skills in a contextually appropriate approach. Oral language is necessary for students to interact, collaborate, and participate in social and academic tasks and practices. By combining these two scores from Listening and Speaking into the oral composite score, teachers, parents, and other stakeholders will be able to see how students’ engage in the two crucial skill areas.
The Literacy score, a combination of Reading and Writing scores, provides educators with an overview of students’ ability to read and write for different purposes. Literacy can be traditionally defined as the process for gaining and conveying meaning from written text. As a student gains reading skills, they also begin to learn to compose written or printed text. WELPA measures literacy skills through written text at grade appropriate levels and through tasks that reflect literacy events and practices that students encounter in social and academic contexts. In this example the mean scale score is
If you compare them to the proficiency scale score range that we saw earlier on the Student Proficiency Report, the scores fall below Level 4 which is the target Transitional level. The summary tells us that improvement in these three language domains – Listening, Reading and Writing - should be considered in future instructional planning for this group.

7. Updated 2013
Instructional planning should be made at not only the class level, but also differentiated within the class, when resources allow. The list of student performance in the Group List Report provides useful information for this purpose. In this example we’ve highlighted the domain(s) where each student demonstrated performance below Level 4, the Transitional Level. We can see that within this class, students show different performance patterns across domains.
Using such information may help the teacher target instruction based on the relative strengths and weaknesses of each student. Also, it may help teachers divide students into smaller groups for differentiated instruction or grouped class activities. Note that there is more than one way to classify and group students, and the exact method to use depends on the purpose of the instruction in the particular local context.
We would also like to remind you that the district results file is an additional resource available within the district. It is particularly useful for looking at how students in one school performed compared with another, for instance, or how all grade 7 students across the district performed, or how students from particular language backgrounds performed. The district file is electronic and can be sorted by your District Assessment Coordinator to provide additional analyses that may be of interest to your district.
Within a group (class), students may show different performance patterns across domains. Using domain-level proficiency information may help the teacher not only target instruction based on the relative strengths and weaknesses of each student but also divide students into smaller groups for differentiated instruction or class activities.

8. Understanding Condition Codes on the Score Reports
INV: Test Invalidation
There were testing irregularities that made the scores invalid for use.
REF: Refused to Test
The student refused to take the test for personal reasons.
ABS: Absent
The student was absent during the test administration.
IC: Incomplete
The student was unable to complete one or more domains of the test for reasons that are not related to language ability. AND/OR
The student’s test booklet was marked INV, REF, or ABS for one or more domains of the test.
During our review of the score reports, you may have noticed that some students do not have an actual score; instead, a condition code is used. What do the condition codes mean? You can find a brief description of them at the bottom of each report.
Here we would like to provide a more elaborate explanation of each code. INV means test invalidation. The score may be marked as invalid if there were testing irregularities. REF is Refused to Test. This code is used when a student refused to take the test for personal reasons. ABS stands for Absent. The code is used when a student was absent during the test administration. IC means Incomplete. This code is used when a student was unable to complete one or more domains for reasons that are not related to the student’s language ability, or/and the student’s test booklet was marked INV, REF, or ABS for one or more domains of the test. In these situations, the scores, had they been calculated, may not represent well the actual language ability of the student; therefore, condition codes are used instead.
We’d also like to mention that if you marked “Yes” for “Could Not Respond” for a student during the test administration of a subtest, and the student didn’t answer any items on the subtest, they received the lowest scale score for that subtest.

9. CTB/McGraw-Hill Customer Support Center 800-569-2667
Title III Parent Notification of Student Placement in English Language Development Program: aspx
After checking with your district assessment coordinator and determining that your district did not receive your individual student reports, Group List Reports, or Interpretation Guides, call or CTB Customer Support Center.
We thank you for attending today’s presentation.