Students and Families
Information about the Ohio English Language Proficiency Screener (OELPS), the Ohio English Language Proficiency Assessment (OELPA) and the Alternate Ohio English Language Proficiency Assessment (Alt-OELPA).
What are the Ohio English Language Proficiency Tests?
Ohio’s English language proficiency tests are given to students in grades kindergarten through 12 to measure their ability to read, write, listen to, and speak English. The Ohio English Language Proficiency Screener (OELPS) may be given upon enrollment to determine if a child is eligible for the school's English language development program. The Ohio English Language Proficiency Assessment measures an English learner’s progress to English proficiency and readiness to exit from the English language development program. The Alternate OELPA is for English learners with the most significant cognitive disabilities, and it also measures progress to English proficiency and readiness to exit the English language development program.
Find out more about the OELPA tests
When are the Tests Given?
The OELPA and Alt-OELPA are given in the winter. The OELPS are throughout the year. Download this calendar to find out when your child will be tested in the school year.
Download the Testing Calendar
Family Friendly Glossary of Terms
- Accessibility Features
- Tools and settings in the testing system that provide support for students, such as features and tools that allow students to change the screen color and text color or font size of an online test.
- Accommodation
- Eligible students can receive adjustments to the testing conditions, test format or test administration that provide equitable access during the test. Examples of accommodations include extended time or language translations. Accommodations are available to students through an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) or 504 plan, or students who are English learners.
- Accomplished
- One of five performance levels. A student performing at the accomplished level has a consistent ability to demonstrate knowledge and skills that align with Ohio's Learning Standards.
- Advanced
- One of five performance levels. A student performing at the advanced level has an exceeding ability to demonstrate knowledge and skills that align with Ohio's Learning Standards.
- Alternate Ohio English Language Proficiency Assessment (Alt-OELPA)
- An annual test of skill in reading, writing, listening, and speaking English for English learners with the most significant cognitive disabilities. The results show your child's progress to English proficiency and determine if your child should remain in a the school's English language development program.
- Basic
- One of five performance levels. A student performing at the basic level has a developing ability to demonstrate knowledge and skills that align with Ohio's Learning Standards.
- Basic (AASCD)
- One of five performance levels. A student performing at the basic level has a developing ability to demonstrate knowledge and skills that align with Ohio's Learning Standards - Extended.
- Benchmark test
- Available within the Readiness Assessments, Benchmark tests are full-length tests that mirror the content and test characteristics of Ohio’s State Tests.
- Blueprint
- Test blueprints are a guide for test construction and provide an outline of the content and skills to be measured on the test.
- Cognitive Demand (Science only)
- Cognitive demand represents the type of thinking, or the level/depth of complexity of thought expected. Ohio's Cognitive Demands for Science include the following: Designing Technological/Engineering Solutions Using Science Concepts, Demonstrating Science Knowledge, Interpreting and Communicating Science Concepts, and Recalling Accurate Science.
- Content Areas
- Content areas are also known as subjects (for example, English language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies).
- Cut Scores
- A specific point on a test's score scale that distinguishes between two performance levels. Scores at or above that point are interpreted to mean something different from scores below that point. Cut scores can determine if a student's test score is at the limited, basic, proficient, accomplished or advanced performance level. Cut scores may also mark specific points within a certain performance level, such as the Third Grade Reading Guarantee Promption Score or the high school competency score.
- Depth-of-Knowledge (DOK)
- A system that classifies items based on the task's complexity (in other words, the kind of thinking required by the task). DOK levels do not reflect the difficulty of the task. There are 4 DOK levels: DOK1 Recall and Reproduction, DOK2 Skills and Concepts, DOK3 Strategic Thinking, and DOK4 Extended Thinking.
- Domain
- The four domains of language are the four ways that people interact with language: reading, writing, listening and speaking. Ohio's English language proficiency assessments (OELPS, OELPA and Alt-OELPA) measure a student's skill in each of these areas.
- Emerging (OELPS/OELPA)
- Emerging is one of three overall proficiency levels for students who have taken Ohio's English language proficiency assessments (OELPS and/or OELPA). Students are Emerging when they have not yet attained a level of English language skill necessary to produce, interpret, and collaborate on grade-level content-related academic tasks in English. This is indicated on OELPS and OELPA by attaining scores of Levels 1 and 2 in all four domains. Students scoring Emerging on the OELPS and the OELPA are eligible for program support as an English learner.
- End-of-Course (EOC) Assessment
- An end-of-course assessment measures mastery of content in a particular high school course. Ohio's State Tests end-of-course assessments are administered in English Language Arts II, Algebra I, Geometry, Integrated Mathematics I, Integrated Mathematics II, Biology, American History, and American Government.
- English Learner
- A student whose native or primary language is not English and who has difficulty speaking, reading, writing, or understanding the English language.
- Fairness
- Also known as test fairness. Educators, parents, and community members make up committees to evaluating test fairness. The committees review and evaluate test questions to make sure that test questions are fair and unbiased for all groups of Ohio students. They also ensure that diverse cultures are represented in assessments and materials.
- Formative Assessment
- A test teachers conduct throughout the year to identify where their students may need additional help or practice and when they are ready to move ahead in their learning.
- Graduation Requirements
- Graduation requirements are a set of criteria that must be met for a student to graduate. The Ohio graduation requirements are found at https://education.ohio.gov/Topics/Ohio-s-Graduation-Requirements
- Individual Student Report (ISR)
- Your child receives a student report for each test they complete. Your child's report provides general information about the test and your child's results. The report may contain other elements, such as their scale score, achievement level, previous performance, and scores in each area of the test. Your child's reports may also show how your child's performance compares to that of other students who took the same test in the same school, district, and state.
- Interim Assessment
- A low-stakes test that teachers can administer at many points throughout the school year, usually given at the middle of a course, school year, or other period. It helps teachers identify gaps in understanding and instruction.
- Items
- Test questions that appear on a test given to a student.
- Language Usage Survey
- A completed language usage survey is required for all students upon enrollment in Ohio schools. The survey collects information about your child's language background and prior education. Information from the survey tells school staff if they need to check your child’s proficiency in English. Answers to these questions ensure your child receives the education services to succeed in school. The information is not used to identify immigration status.
- Learning Standards
- Learning standards explain the knowledge and skills Ohio students in pre-kindergarten through grade 12 need to have. Ohio measures the performance of its schools based on how well students are progressing in gaining the knowledge and skills within the learning standards. We do this partly by measuring student performance on annual state tests based on the standards.
- Limited
- One of five performance levels. A student performing at the limited level has an emerging ability to demonstrate knowledge and skills that align with Ohio's Learning Standards.
- Ohio English Language Proficiency Assessment (OELPA)
- An annual test of your child's skill in reading, writing, listening, and speaking English. The results show your child's progress to English proficiency and determine if an your child should remain in a the school's English language development program.
- Ohio English Language Proficiency Screener (OELPS)
- A test used to determine if your child should be classified as an English Learner based on their proficiency in reading, writing, listening, and speaking English.
- Ohio's Learning Standards
- Ohio’s Learning Standards define what students should know and be able to do. Find information about Ohio’s Learning Standards on the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce website at education.ohio.gov
- Options
- The response choices to an item from which students select an answer.
- Passage (Reading Passage)
- A selection of a written work, such as a non-fiction story, that students read in order to answer test questions.
- Percentile Rank
- A student's rank relative to other students in the same grade or group.
- Points Earned
- Also known as raw score. The number of points earned by your child in a Reporting Category.
- Points Possible
- The highest number of points that a student can earn in a Reporting Category.
- Proficient
- One of five performance levels. A student performing at the proficient level has a general ability to demonstrate knowledge and skills that align with Ohio's Learning Standards.
- Proficient (OELPS/OELPA)
- Proficient is one of three overall proficiency levels for students who have taken Ohio's English language proficiency assessments (OELPS and/or OELPA). Students are Proficient when they attain a level of English language skill necessary to independently produce, interpret, collaborate on, and succeed in grade-level content-related academic tasks in English. This is indicated on the OELPS and the OELPA by attaining scores of Level 4 or higher in all domains. Students with Proficient scores do not continue in the school's English lanugage development program.
- Progressing (OELPS/OELPA)
- Progressing is one of three overall proficiency levels for students who have taken Ohio's English language proficiency assessments (OELPS and/or OELPA). Students are Progressing when, with support, they approach a level of English language skill necessary to produce, interpret, and collaborate, on grade level content-related academic tasks in English. This is indicated on the OELPS and OELPA by attaining scores with one or more domain scores above Level 2 that does not meet the requirements to be Proficient. Students scoring Progressing on the OELPS and the OELPA are eligible for ongoing program support.
- Raw score
- Raw scores are the points a child earned on a test. Raw scores cannot be compared across different test forms, so they are converted to scaled scores for reporting purposes.
- Readiness Assessment
- Assessments designed to help schools and districts identify student progress and to receive usable performance data. These assessments are optional and can be given in grades 3 through high school in English Language Arts, Mathematics, Science and Social Studies. The readiness assessments include the benchmark and checkpoint tests.
- Reading Subscore
- A student's performance on individual reading standards on the grade 3 English language arts test.
- Reporting Category
- Each test has three to five reporting categories. Reporting categories are the major areas tested within each subject. For example, areas for grade 3 mathematics are Multiplication and Division, Numbers and Operations, Fractions, Geometry, and Modeling and Reasoning.
- Reporting Category Indicators
- The test results present groups of similar skills or learning standards measues on the test in reporting categories. For example, a reporting category within integrated mathematics would be statistics. Student performance on statistics or other areas within the reporting category is reported with an indicator. These indicators are below proficient, near proficient and above proficient.
- Rubric
- A set of criteria explaining how an answer should be scored and what a child needs to do to earn full or partial credit.
- Scale Score
- A numerical value that is on a common scale so that students' scores can be compared over multiple test administrations of the same test. For example, scaled scores for students who took the grade 3 English language arts state test this year may be compared with those of students who took it last year. Scaled scores are not comparable across different subjects.
- Score Report
- A report that details your child's tests results.
- Standards
- Grade-level content or grade band content that is assessed for accountability purposes.
- Standard setting
- The process that determines what each performance level minimum and maximum score will be. Standard setting is based on input from educators, community and business leaders, and the public, as well as the state’s education leadership.
- Stem
- The question or prompt in a test item to which a student must respond.
- Stimulus
- A reading passage or multimedia resource in a test that students must review in order to respond to a set of associated items.
- Summative Test
- A test that measures student learning near the end of an instructional unit.
- Test Label
- Also known as test name.
- Test Reason
- A category assigned to a test opportunity and used to group tests for reporting purposes.
- Test Specifications
- Test specifications include descriptions of the assessment components and item types, assessment blueprints, and item specifications, to help educators and the general public better understand the design of Ohio's State Tests. These documents are used to guide the development of Ohio's State Tests.
- Test Window
- The season and year in which the test was given to students (for example, Fall 2022). Can also refer to the specific range of dates during which a test may be given.
- Writing Condition Code
- This code when assigned explains why the student received an irregular score on the student's Writing response. For example, condition code “TR” means a response was off topic. Condition code “NO” means a response did not contain enough original text.
- Writing Rubrics
- A set of characteristics describing each possible score point for writing items across three dimensions: purpose, focus, and organization; evidence and elaboration; and conventions. There are four writing rubrics: grades 3-5 informative/explanatory rubric, grades 3-5 opinion rubric, grades 6-12 informative/explanatory rubric, and grades 6-12 argumentation rubric.
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