"A handbook for K-12 teachers"--Cover.

Includes bibliographical references and index. Includes Appendix A: Grading Guidelines for Writing, and Appendix B: Reproductible Masters.

Preface -- Introduction -- 1. Kiss Me, Teacher: What Teachers Need to Know -- 2. What Shape Will We use? Red! Testing vs. Alternative Forms of Assessment -- 3. Determining the Navel Assigned to the Factor: Initial Placement -- 4. We're Working Hardly: Emerging Literacy -- 5. Diving for Pearls in Their Shelves: How and Where to Find Information -- 6. The Santa Maria, the Pimpas, and the Ninny: Checklists, Anecdotes, and Conferences -- 7. Flying Without an Earplan: Stories From the Trenches -- 8. The Final Nail in the Coffee: Grades -- 9. Lunching Several Measures: Presenting the Information to Stakeholders -- 10. Fight to the Spinach! Making the Change -- Conclusion

"This is a comprehensive, easy-to-read book. It explores both the theory and practice of ESL assessment and is full of work samples, ideas, organizers, and personal experiences that all readers can use or adapt for their own situations. More than anything, it provides tried-and-true assessment methods that work. As ESL students travel the road to literacy, they pass many milestones on the learning continuum. In Assessment and ESL, authors Barbara Law and Mary Eckes explore this road and its relationship to the basic issues of alternative assessment. They discuss why ongoing, observation-based assessment makes sense when evaluating students who are acquiring a new language; how to evaluate ESL students for placement and follow-up; how to look through the errors to identify what students know; how to collect and record information by observing the product and t he process, and by using traditional assessment tools; how to present this information; the thorny issue of grading ESL students; and four case studies showing how different educators have responded to different ESL situations." (Book Cover)

Approved for use in Alberta schools.