Although the State of Missouri does not recognize or require a single assessment tool to evaluate the English language proficiency of pre-K learners, the question does come up from early childhood educators in Missouri. A recent poll from MELL Specialists across the state, enabled me to curate a worthy list of pre-K assessment tools that MO districts might want to consider. Please note that tools listed below do not represent an endorsement of their effectiveness:
MO DESE Early Learning Section recommends (not requires) The Desired Results Developmental Profile which has a section specifically for English Language Learners, more commonly known as the DRDP (2015).
The Bilingual Early Language Assessment (BELA) was recommended in a book called “One Child Two Languages”. It was developed at Harvard and used in the Cambridge Public Schools: BELA Toolkit
The State of Illinois uses (actually requires) the Pre-IPT
Many states use the Pre-LAS
A speech pathologist working in education in Seattle recommended Pre-school Language Scales, 5th Edition (Spanish)
The Texas pre-K language assessment was recommended as being especially helpful for students from migrant families.
If you are using a specific pre-K language assessment not included on this list, I’d love to hear from you. Leave a comment with your recommendation, why you find it reliable, and provide a link if possible.
Thanks for reading and sharing!
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