FCAT and ESOL Students
While ESOL students should be provided with accommodations while taking classroom tests, ESOL students must also be offered accommodations when taking the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT). In fact, districts are required to offer accommodations to LEP students who are currently receiving services in a program operated in accordance with an approved District LEP Plan. Permissible modifications for these LEP students are listed below. The test may be administered with any one of these modifications or a combination of accommodations that are determined to be appropriate for the particular needs of the LEP student. However, all testing, with or without accommodations, must be completed during the prescribed testing dates.
- Flexible Setting. LEP students may be offered the opportunity to be tested in a separate room with the English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) or heritage language teacher acting as administrator. Parents must be informed of this option for students not of legal age and shall be given the opportunity to select the preferred method of test administration.
- Flexible Scheduling. LEP students may take a part or section of the test during several brief periods within one school day; however, a section must be completed within one school day.
- Flexible Timing: LEP students may be provided additional time; however, a section must be completed within one school day. (Note that this accommodation applies only to the performace based sections of the FCAT, not the norm-referenced sections.)
- Assistance in the Heritage Language. For the mathematics test, LEP students may be provided limited assistance by an ESOL or heritage language teacher using the student's heritage language. The teacher may answer specific questions about a word or phrase that is confusing the student because of limited English proficiency, but is prohibited from giving assistance that will help the student solve mathematical test questions. A student's questions must not be answered in a way that would lead the student to unmistakably infer the correct answer to a question. If FCAT is administered to a group of students, the teacher may answer questions about directions for the benefit of the group; questions of clarification from individual students must be answered on an individual basis without disturbing other students taking the test.
For the reading test, the ESOL or heritage language teacher may answer student questions about the general test directions in a way that a student would not be unmistakably led to infer the correct answer to any of the questions. The teacher is prohibited from reading words to the student from the passages, test items, and performance tasks and from answering student questions about the passages, test items, and performance tasks.
For the writing test, the ESOL or heritage language teacher may answer student questions about the general test directions in their heritage language. The teacher may answer specific inquiries concerning a word or phrase in a writing assessment prompt that is confusing the student because of limited English proficiency. In no case shall assistance be given the student in responding to the writing assessment prompt. The teacher is prohibited from reading the prompt to the student.
- Dictionary. LEP students may have access to an English-to-heritage
language translation dictionary and/or heritage language-to-English translation dictionary, such as those made available to LEP students in an instructional setting. However, a dictionary providing definitions written exclusively in the heritage language or in English may not be provided.
