Meeting the educational needs of adolescent newcomers in U.S. schools: A new assessment design

Abstract

This paper focuses on the educational needs of adolescent newcomers, a special population of English language learner (ELL) students who arrive in the United States and enter the school system in middle or high school. We outline the particular challenges adolescent newcomers face in U.S. schools and propose a new assessment system to meet their educational needs. Adolescent newcomers have diverse educational backgrounds and bring a large range of academic knowledge with them to U.S. schools. Currently, there is no assessment system that measures the students’ academic knowledge upon entry to schools in the United States or that tracks the progress of the students. This information is critical for educators of adolescent newcomers in order to provide the students with appropriate instruction. We outline what an ideal battery of assessments for these students would consist of and discuss some of the challenges involved in implementing such assessments.