Research Byte: The Effects of Test Accommodations for English Language Learners: A Meta-Analysis

TI The Effects of Test Accommodations for English Language Learners: A
Meta-Analysis
SO APPLIED MEASUREMENT IN EDUCATION
AB A meta-analysis using Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) was conducted
to examine the effects of test accommodations on the test performance of
English language learners (ELLs). The results indicated that test
accommodations improve ELLs' test performance by about 0.157 standard
deviations-a relatively small but statistically significant increase.
Once the potential predictors that may have contributed to the variance
of the effect sizes across studies had been accounted for, only English
proficiency was found to be significant. Further, the results indicated
that ELLs with a low level of English proficiency benefited much more
from test accommodations than did those with a high level of English
proficiency. Little difference was observed in regard to other factors
such as students' ethnicity, students' grade level, or the subject for
which they were being examined. Although previous studies have suggested
that linguistic simplification may be more effective than other methods,
results from this meta-analysis offered no support for that suggestion.
PD OCT
PY 2012
VL 25
IS 4
BP 327
EP 346
ER