An LEP student is 3 to 21 years of age, speaks a native language other than English, and is enrolling or preparing to enroll in an elementary or secondary school. In most cases, such a student also resides in an environment in which a language other than English is dominant. Each state devises ways of testing the language proficiency of LEP students in order to assure that they meet the level of achievement proscribed in the No Child Left Behind Act, that they can function in an English-speaking classroom and that they have opportunities to participate fully in society.
The basic test for LEP students was developed by the World-Class Instructional Design and Assessment Consortium. Its WIDA Access Placement Test, known as W-APT, is the test that determines whether students are classified as LEP in the first place. A newly enrolling student is given the W-APT within 14 to 30 days and that score is used to determine their eligibility for LEP placement within the school system. The student's parents must be notified as soon as tests have determined if their child is in the category of Limited English Proficiency.
LEP students who are in their first year of enrollment in a U.S. school may be tested to see if they know enough practical English to be able to study basic mathematics. If they have not yet reached a level of plain English functionality, they can be placed in a three-year cycle between grades three and eight, using the Plain English Mathematics Test to determine when they are ready to move into regular SOL testing. This test uses language simplification involving 850 core words and some basic syntactic structures.
The Standard of Learning (SOL) assessment developed by the State of Virginia tests LEP students at the third, fifth and eighth grade level on a variety of subjects, including science, math, history, computer use and critical thinking. The SOL test does not focus on English-language proficiency, per se, but measures LEP students' ability to function in English while being tested over a broad range of knowledge. The segments are not timed and there is no score or grade attached. SOL Tests are used purely to test whether LEP students are ready to progress to another grade level.