These assessment artifacts give specific suggestions and strategies for English Language Learners as well as an outline of how to

assign grades to all students. The first artifact describes how to use STEP for initial and other ELL assessments. The second artifact
describes how to choose a grade in a way that allows all students, especially ELLs, to demonstrate their learning in an accurate way
that will allow them to be successful.

Source
English as a Second Language Observable Language Continua
EduGains
http://www.edugains.ca/newsite/ell/step/english_second_language.html
Artifact
The Observable Language Behaviours continua describe ELLs' English proficiency development in three broad strands-oral,
reading, and writing. Each strand is guided by the Ontario language curriculum. The Oral strand is defined in terms of listening and
speaking skills. Reading is organized by the elements: meaning, form and style, and fluency. The Writing strand emphasizes the
view of writing as a process, progressing from prewriting and organization of ideas, to writing and editing. The Observable Language
Behaviours continua have two main purposes: one is to inform programming and the other is to track the student's language
proficiency. For further information on the OLBs refer to the STEP document. (The observable Language Behaviour charts are very
useful)
Rationale
Observable language behavior and profile. This artifact describes the STEPs in more details but also gives a profile of where
students should be by the time they are past a certain step. I chose this because the STEP assessment is one of the things artifacts
I wanted to learn more about in this class. It is very helpful to have a profile of where students should be so that I can more
accurately design down when creating the course and unit outlines. It is important in working with ELLs because it can be very
difficult to determine where they are academically, especially if they have limited prior schooling. This breakdown of the different
strands is helpful, because it would allow me to create activities where students can focus on their weaknesses or needs that are not
being met in other contexts, for example students who are especially strong in oral communication because of working a part time
job. Those students could take time to focus on reading and writing.

Source
Determining a Report Card Grade: Grades 1 to 12
Growing Success: Assessment, Evaluation, and Reporting in Ontario Schools
Page 39
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/policyfunding/growSuccess.pdf
Artifact
Teachers will take various considerations into account before making a decision about the grade to be entered on the report card.
The teacher will consider all evidence collected through observations, conversations, and student products (tests/exams,
assignments for evaluation). The teacher will consider the evidence for all the tests/exams and assignments for evaluation that the
student has completed or submitted, the number of tests/exams or assignments for evaluation that were not completed or submitted,
and the evidence of achievement that is available for each overall expectation for a subject in a particular grade or course.
Rationale
This artifact is a paragraph from Growing Success outlining how teachers create marks for report cards for students in all grades. It
lists the ways that teachers can use their professional judgement to use most tasks as summative evidence. I selected this artifact
because as teachers, we are strongly encouraged to only use the 4 summative tasks and a culminating for our report card marks.
Having the freedom described in this artifact gives a much better picture of student achievement and allows students to really learn
and succeed. This is especially important when working with ELLs because they may have a high level of understanding but may
have trouble expressing it because of their formal language development. Being able to use informal conversations, observations,
and assignments in addition to formal summatives will allow ELLs to demonstrate their learning and understanding in a very
thorough way.