California schools now have two screening instruments that use playful games and stories to test 4-year-olds’ language skills without making them cry.

The California Department of Education this spring approved two language screeners for use in transitional kindergarten to replace the English Language Proficiency Assessment for California (ELPAC), which lawmakers barred schools from administering to TK students two years ago.

All K-12 students who speak languages other than English at home are required to take the ELPAC within 30 days of enrollment to determine their English proficiency. But teachers and advocates reported some TK students fluent in English were identified as English learners simply because they were too young to be tested. Some teachers said the experience caused some 4-year-olds to down on their desks or simply refuse to answer questions. 

The ELPAC measures reading and writing skills that most 4-year-olds have not yet developed, advocates and researchers said. Researchers said screening instruments for this age group should instead measure speaking and understanding and use games, stories and conversation designed for young children.

A by New America and the American Institutes for Research found that 22 states and Washington, D.C. screen students to identify English learners before kindergarten. The two screeners selected for use in California are among the most common, with each used in nine other states. 

Alesha Moreno-Ramirez, director of the state education department’s Multilingual Support Division, said the two approved screening tests are developmentally appropriate for 4-year-olds, can test in more than one language and can be administered across the state. 

The screeners “provide an educator insights so that perhaps they’ll use a different kind of scaffolding, or perhaps they’ll bring in additional resources, or maybe they’ll bring in literature in different languages and introduce them into their TK classroom,” said Moreno-Ramirez.

One of the screeners, Early Childhood, uses a story board and pieces, including characters and objects, to assess a child’s understanding and speaking through storytelling. In a demonstration video, an examiner reads a story little by little and asks the student questions.

“Sarah’s mother calls the children to come to the picnic table. So what do you think Jack and Sarah are going to do?” she asks.

“They’re going to eat at the picnic table,” answers the child.

The other screener, , uses colorful pictures to assess proficiency. In one of its four sections, the examiner shows the student pictures of eyes and ears and asks them to point to their own eye or ear. In another section, labeled “Art Show,” the examiner shows the student a drawing of children looking at paintings of a dog and cat and asks them to describe what is happening. Students are also asked to repeat phrases as well as listen to a story and retell it as the examiner points to the pictures.

“I feel very pleased that we’re no longer using an assessment that’s developmentally inappropriate for younger children,” said Carolyne Crolotte, director of policy at Early Edge California, a nonprofit that advocated to exempt TK students from taking the ELPAC.

Texas has used preLAS to measure English language proficiency for pre-K and kindergarten students since 2019. Henry Castellanos, principal of Delco Elementary School in Austin, said he administered it many times as a bilingual reading interventionist.

“I definitely feel like it was a good read and measure on where students were,” Castellanos said. “All the components are very age appropriate.”

Castellanos spent his elementary school years in the early 2000s in West Covina. He spoke Spanish at home with his parents, but said he gradually lost much of the language as he became proficient in English and could not keep up with peers or cousins when he would visit Mexico.

At the time, California had severely restricted bilingual education, while Texas its bilingual programs.

“Knowing what I know now, I’m like, dang, I missed out on so many opportunities, because it was literally all English the whole time,” he said.

Both California screening exams can also be used to measure Spanish language skills, which advocates said is important for children who speak Spanish at home, so teachers can understand their vocabulary and expression in their home language. However, they cannot be used in other languages.

The two screeners will be piloted this school year in some California school districts, and then rolled out to all school districts in 2027-28. Moreno-Ramirez said the field testing is not intended to check whether the test is reliable or useful, but rather to inform guidance, training and access.

“It will help us identify any sticking points related to rollout,” said Moreno-Ramirez.

Under state law, the new screeners cannot be used to officially identify transitional kindergarten students as English learners, which means schools will not be able to get federal funding for those children until they enter kindergarten. To make up for the state funding that schools would have received for English learners through the Local Control Funding Formula, the Legislature made a temporary fix to allow schools to use the percentage of English learners in kindergarten to approximate the percentage of English learners in transitional kindergarten and receive similar funding, but only until 2027. In order to receive funding for these students after 2027, the Legislature would have to pass another law.

In addition, schools are not required by law to provide students who are not officially identified as English learners with language services. Nor are they required to report their academic or language progress on the California School Dashboard.

“We’re hoping educators feel compelled to support their students based on their understanding of their multilingual experience,” Moreno-Ramirez said. “We want to make sure that we’re not just thinking about providing supports and services for those students for whom it’s required by federal law, but also thinking about the opportunity for kids in the earliest years that we recognize their linguistic assets.”

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Indiana’s influential Chamber of Commerce on Monday released its third long-term economic for the state — two years ahead of schedule, and as both Indiana and the chamber itself prepare for major leadership changes.

The ambitious vision seeks to advance workforce, education, business climate, infrastructure, quality of place and health initiatives.

“Indiana Prosperity 2035 is more than just an update to a prior plan. It’s a new vision with a goal of accelerating the move of Indiana’s economy to an even greater high,” chamber board chair Paul Perkins said at a virtual news conference Tuesday. He’s also president of Amatrol Inc., a technical education provider.

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The organization’s previous plan was set to extend through 2025. But longtime chamber President and CEO Kevin Brinegar said board and staff members decided to “pivot” in 2020, during the pandemic-induced “tremendous upheaval in our economy.”

The 20-page document will guide the chamber’s advocacy work with policymakers and others, Brinegar said. That includes the state’s next governor.

Brinegar said his team would ask each declared gubernatorial candidate “for the opportunity to go through it with them, to encourage them to embrace it and adopt as much of it as they see fit.” The general election is November 2024.

The 12-year plan also comes with Brinegar himself on the way out. He’s set to retire in January 2024 after 31 years with the chamber.

Goals run the gamut

Forty policy experts, business leaders and others spent 18 months putting the latest plan together, which focuses on similar pillars as in the past: workforce, education, business climate, infrastructure, quality of place and health.

But Brinegar said the goals within each area had changed.

In workforce, for example: over the last decade, the percentage of Hoosiers with a postsecondary credential rose from 32% to 54%, according to the chamber. Now, the organization wants to aim for 70%.

“I am optimistic that (even) if we don’t quite get there, we’re going to be close and we’re going to be better served for having had this goal to work towards since 2012, and continuing on into the future,” Brinegar said.

The chamber also hopes to see double the number of Hoosiers with STEM-related postsecondary credentials by 2035, and more with bachelor’s degrees. It additionally wants the state to keep more college graduates, especially international students with STEM degrees, and to get workforce participation from 63% to 70%.

Higher participation would fill the 100,000 jobs open statewide, Brinegar said.

“To do this we have to lift up the skills of the folks at the lower end of the education attainment level,” he said. “It’s unacceptable to have 60% of our high school dropouts not in the workforce. We’ve got to get them off the sidelines and onto the playing field.”

In education, the chamber said it wanted more Hoosier students proficient in math and English, higher graduation rates — not counting waivers — and publicly funded pre-kindergarten programs accessible statewide. Brinegar also highlighted a desire to consolidate small school districts.

Lawmakers have already fulfilled one goal, with recent legislation enabling automatic enrollment of qualifying students into the 21st Century Scholars program.

When it comes to business, the chamber offered congratulations on the state’s “competitive business and regulatory environment” but said the state should focus on some investment, entrepreneurship, productivity, patent and intellectual property metrics.

“It is so important for us to be successful in this area (entrepreneurship), because we have to grow our own,” said volunteer task force chair Larry Gigerich, who also leads economic development group Ginovus. “Indiana is not likely to be a state where we’re going to get a lot of headquarters to relocate here. It’s just not something that is is necessarily a perfect fit for us.”

In infrastructure, the chamber announced goals of high speed communication connectivity for all and carbon neutral targets. Lawmakers have already taken action on two other goals: a state energy strategy and a road improvement program.

But water and wastewater needs still need to be addressed.

“We’ve seen the struggles that have happened in the Boone County area with the LEAP district, which was laid out — but perhaps not enough thought (was) given to where the water for these massive manufacturing and laboratory facilities was going to come from,” Brinegar remarked.

The chamber highlighted quality of place initiatives to help retain and attract more residents, as well as water, air quality and affordable housing goals. Though the state has gained population overall, Indiana’s smallest communities are losing people.

And finally, on health, the chamber hoped to lower smoking and addiction levels, “contain” health care costs and boost civic engagement.

“The cost in loves, lost futures and lost productivity is simply staggering,” the report notes. “… Indiana’s unhealthy population is a drag on economic growth and a tremendous cost to taxpayers.

Tracking metrics

Brinegar said the chamber would release its first baseline report card this fall, and would likely continue releasing them on a biennial basis.

Indiana’s business community, philanthropic community and governmental entities are most effective when they are aligned, Gigerich said. And he advocated for all to resource the plan and “seize this opportunity.”

“We cannot afford to be complacent,” he said.

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