Under the Every Student Succeeds Act, Ohio must identify English learners, annually assess their English language proficiency, and provide reasonable accommodations for them on state assessments.
Ohio's public school districts are required to identify and serve students who are English learners following the state’s Guidelines for identifying English Learners using the Ohio English Language Proficiency Screener (OELPS). The Ohio English Language Proficiency Screener (OELPS) is aligned to the K-12 English Language Proficiency Standards and is designed to identify Ohio students in grades K-12 as English learners.
There are three overall performance levels: 1 - Emerging, 2 - Progressing and 3 - Proficient. A student’s overall performance level is determined from the scores earned on each of the domain tests that comprise the test (reading, writing, listening and speaking). Each domain test is scored on a scale of 1 to 5. Scores of 4 and 5 correlate with proficiency in that domain. Students with an overall performance level of Proficient will not be identified as English learners.
For newly registered Kindergarten students ONLY schools administer the OELPS-BK through Dec. 31st of the student’s kindergarten year. Students screened with the OELPS-BK will be determined proficient if they score 3s or higher in all non-exempted domains.
Students who meet the state’s criteria to be identified as English Learners are required by law to take the Ohio English Language Proficiency Assessment (OELPA). OELPA is the state’s annual summative assessment of English language proficiency, which provides documentation of English learners’ progress toward English proficiency. A student’s OELPA results determine whether the student is eligible to continue as an English learner or is proficient and ready to exit the language instructional education program.
Only students who achieve an overall performance level of Proficient on the OELPA exit from English learner status. The overall performance level of Proficient is defined as domain scores of 4s and 5s in any combination across all nonexempt domain tests (listening, reading, writing and speaking).
