Avant Blog
Welcome James Mattiace, International Schools Account Manager
Welcome James Mattiace, International Schools Account Manager We are excited to announce that James Mattiace has joined our team to assist international PK-12 schools with their language assessment and professional learning needs. With extensive experience as an administrator and teacher at international schools, James brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to our company. James
Is Your Language Assessment Data Accurate and Reliable?
Is Your Language Assessment Data Accurate and Reliable? The value of language skills is increasing. Both learners and educators are discovering that individuals who can demonstrate proficiency in more than one language improve their chances to earn college admission, secure a good job, and increase their earning potential. Assessment is the most efficient means of
Welcome Amanda Minnillo, World Language Specialist
Welcome Amanda Minnillo, World Language Specialist Amanda Minnillo is our newest Avant MORE Learning team member at Avant Assessment! She has a Master’s degree in Applied Linguistics from the University of Massachusetts, Boston and is certified in English as a Second Language (ESL). As a former high school French teacher, Amanda brings a passion for
Help Avant Assessment Celebrate Achieving Women in Language for International Women’s Day
Help Avant Assessment Celebrate Achieving Women in Language for International Women’s Day #AvantAchiever Each year, on March 8th, International Women’s Day (#IWD2022) is one of the most important days of the year to: celebrate women’s achievements raise awareness about women’s equality lobby for gender parity fundraise for female-focused charities This year’s theme was #breakthebias and
Four Steps To Achieving Higher Proficiency-Level Language Learners
Four Steps That Help Language Learners Achieve Higher Proficiency Levels With this four-step approach, you can turn your school’s, district’s, or institution’s world language program into a cycle of proficiency with measurable, year-over-year outcomes and proven program efficacy. Start Your Circle Of Proficiency Where You Are Now For many, improving upon or starting a proficiency-based language program
How One College’s Testing Provides Proof Of Program Efficacy
How One College’s Testing Provides Proof of Program Efficacy In the early 2000’s, Cheryl Johnson, Instructional Technologist at Denison University in Ohio, first learned about the Avant STAMP™ assessment. At the time, she didn’t recommend it to her department. “It was new and untested,” she said. However, in 2008, Johnson had learned more and began
How Language Proficiency Training Transformed My Teaching
How Language Proficiency Training Transformed My Teaching By: Caroline E. Schlegel, M.Ed. I was going through my desk drawer the other day and came across a lesson I had video-recorded my first year teaching. HOLY GUACAMOLE! What was I wearing and why was my hair so short?! Also – what was I actually doing? I was
How One County Is Turning Seal Of Biliteracy Access And Equity Into Reality
How One County is Turning Seal of Biliteracy Access and Equity into Reality The San Bernardino Superintendent of Schools, Ted Alejandre, and his office are doing something never done before in California: providing access to all high school seniors learning or speaking more than one language the opportunity to take the Avant STAMP™ assessment to
How I Grew My Language Programs With NADSFL
How I Grew My Language Programs with NADSFL By: Bonnie Peterson I don’t scare easily. I’ve been skydiving, extensively traveled the world alone, and taught junior high and high school French for 17 years. From a lifetime of facing my fears, I thought that I could do anything. Then, I applied for and was hired
How can language programs leverage Texas’ Teacher Incentive Allotment (TIA)?
How Can Language Programs Leverage Texas’ Teacher Incentive Allotment (TIA)? In 2019, Texas passed legislation to create the Teacher Incentive Allotment for Texas schools as a realistic pathway for teachers to earn higher salaries and focus funding on traditionally hard-to-staff schools and districts. Since then, school districts across the state have applied for this funding
Study Abroad During A Pandemic? Here Is How CIEE Did It Successfully
If you thought COVID was tough on your school or organization, imagine being in the study abroad business. Airplanes grounded. Host families can’t take strangers into their homes. Schools around the world are closed. You can’t do study abroad on Zoom. Learn how CIEE beat the pandemic. The Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE) typically
Discover The Potential Of Your Language Programs With Avant STAMP Data
Watch Roger Burt and Bonnie Peterson Share How They Used Avant STAMP Data To Improve The World Language Program At Their School In this video you will learn how Avant’s Regional Account Managers Roger Burt and Bonnie Peterson used the data from the Avant STAMP Assessment at Clearfield High School and Davis School District to
Reimagining Bilingual School Programs
In Albuquerque
In school, Jessica Villalobos could not see herself. People who looked like her, shared her background, who spoke Spanish were nowhere to be seen in the textbooks, novels, and films at her school. Making Change Happen “I saw windows, but no mirrors,” she says. “These windows into the dominant culture helped me understand the wider
Using STAMP to Create a Culture of Learning at the College of DuPage
Sandra Martins was a good Spanish student. But, when she finally visited Spain for the first time, she found much of what she had learned to be useless. Language Learning And Real World Proficiency “All that studying, and I didn’t even feel comfortable buying a newspaper,” she says. Sandra could easily have been one of
Data Is A Key To Language Proficiency
Hebrew At The Center’s Data-Centered Approach To Language Proficiency A data-driven approach to language proficiency helps Hebrew at the Center turn Hebrew students into Hebrew speakers. How do you get the most out of your language program at your school? For many schools across the country, the answer is the same: Hebrew at the Center.
Student Avant STAMP Language Proficiency Test Scores Skyrocket
Student Avant STAMP Language Proficiency Test Scores Skyrocket Simply letting students talk more during a class led to dramatic improvements in students’ language proficiency skills at the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School. Listening Is Good, Speaking Is Better When Daniella Friedman began working as the Language Coordinator for Kindergarten – 5th grade at the
Language Placement Testing: Tulane’s Success Story
Language Placement Testing: Tulane’s Success Story Tulane University started using online assessment for student placement a few years ago, discovering that student performance data — like duct tape — can solve all sorts of problems. Language Placement Testing: The Duct Tape For Student Success Water leaking into boxes of explosives during World War II was
Using STAMP Data To Improve Your Small Language Program: Carl Robertson’s Story
Using STAMP Data To Improve Your Small Language Program: Carl Robertson’s Story Carl Robertson is a scientist at heart. This is why he is always experimenting with his Chinese language program at Southwestern University in Texas. How Carl Sets His Objectives “Every year, I have at least one pedagogic objective I focus on,” he says.
Recognizing all Heritage Language Learners In Texas
Recognizing All Heritage Language Learners in Texas Stephany Sipes Heritage Language Learners In Texas Stephany Sipes is the World Language Coordinator in Plano, Texas, and a language educator for 13 years. As World Language Coordinator in Plano, Texas, I oversee the curriculum and instruction of more than 12,000 students. Our team of outstanding teachers believe
4 Fun Ways to Help Students Maintain Their Language Skills This Summer
4 Fun Ways to Help Students Maintain Their Language Skills This Summer Your kids worked hard all school year learning and improving their world language skills. Don’t let the summer or holiday slide set them back! It’s finally that time of year- school is out! You’ve finished the spring testing season, final report cards are
Why Wait Until High School for Seal Of Biliteracy?
Don’t Wait Until High School For Seal Of Biliteracy Chicago Public Schools isn’t waiting until high school to give world language students an opportunity to earn a Seal of Biliteracy. When the school year comes to an end and high school graduates celebrate their awards and achievements, many will receive a Seal of Biliteracy on
5 Expert Language Testing Tips For Teachers & Students
5 Expert Language Testing Tips for Teachers & Students By following these tips from some of Avant’s expert raters, students can feel more confident going into their language proficiency tests this spring. Nobody knows what success looks like on a language proficiency test better than Avant’s team of expert raters – those who have experienced
Expanding Opportunities For Polish Speakers: As Seal Of Biliteracy Testing Increases, So Should Access
Seals of Biliteracy for Polish Speakers: Increasing Access with Help From The Polish Mission Polish Speakers & The Seal Of Biliteracy The number of states and school districts offering the Seal of Biliteracy continues to increase rapidly across the country. This growth is providing a tremendous opportunity for students who have mastered a second language
ADVANCE: Making Proficiency Real for Preservice Teachers
ADVANCE: Making Proficiency Real for Preservice Teachers Tell me and I forget Teach me and I remember Involve me and I learn -Benjamin Franklin The publication of the ACTFL Proficiency guidelines in 1986 was a watershed moment for the field. At last, we had a common
As More States Adopt the Seal Of Biliteracy, Language Assessment Company Launches Program To Increase Testing Access For Schools And Students
As More States Adopt the Seal Of Biliteracy, Language Assessment Company Launches Program To Increase Testing Access For Schools And Students EUGENE, OR (February 15, 2018) (Updated) – As the number of states and school districts adopting the “Seal of Biliteracy” has increased dramatically across the country, a language assessment company has announced a new
Data Literacy: It Doesn’t Take An Einstein
Data Literacy: It Doesn’t Take an Einstein Why Do People Hate Standardized Tests These Days? Here are just a few of their reasons: Only 14% of parents think standardized testing is very important in evaluating schools, making it slightly less popular than used car salesmen and the U.S. Congress, but two points more popular than
Avant ADVANCE: Bringing Language Standards To Life
Avant ADVANCE: Bringing the Standards to Life Art Fry was so frustrated, he almost said a bad word in church. Every time he opened his hymnal, his bookmarks fluttered to the floor. Then he remembered that one of his colleagues at 3M had recently concocted a strange glue that wasn’t very sticky. He applied some
Training Raters, Transforming Classrooms
How Training Raters Transforms Classrooms “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” ~ Aristotle Teachers As Raters=Success We gets calls from schools around the country every day. But this one was different. “What have you done to Marie-Pierre?” asked the principal. “She is a totally different teacher.
Interview With Marzanna Owinski Of The Polish Mission
Interview with Marzanna Owinski of The Polish Mission Marzanna Owinski spoke with Avant Cofounder Dr. Carl Falsgraf about Polish language education in the United States and the goals of The Polish Mission Polish as a Heritage Language “My kids are in Poland now, using their Polish to communicate with family, make friends, really connect with
Why Language Proficiency Matters
Why Language Proficiency Assessment Matters Learning another language is far different than being able to use another language in a real-world setting proficiently. Language Proficiency is the Goal Proficiency is a much-discussed and frequently used word in the language education field. Our company and others deliver “proficiency” assessments. But which proficiency is most important to assess? Is
How Does Avant Rate Speaking And Writing Responses?
Rating Written And Speaking Language Test Responses Who Rates The STAMP Tests? The human-rated responses in the Avant STAMP, PLACE, Arabic Proficiency Test(APT), and the Spanish Heritage Language tests are rated by Certified Avant Raters who are language educators/speakers who meet the following minimum requirements: LANGUAGE SKILL: Raters must maintain an advanced or higher level
Why Avant Now Recommends Avant STAMP 4Se Beginning With Grades 2 Students
Why Avant Recommends STAMP 4Se For Grades 2 And Above Avant STAMP 4Se was developed especially to assess the language proficiency of elementary students. Why The STAMP 4Se For Grade 2 Through 6 Language Learners Is Important In the past several years of administering Avant STAMP 4Se, we have gathered substantial data from language immersion
Why Heritage Language Learning Matters
Why Heritage Language Learning Matters The United States is a country of immigrants, but historically the second generation of these immigrants(heritage language learners) has lost their parents’ language – making our country poorer for it; economically, linguistically, and culturally. Why has this happened repeatedly throughout our history? One reason could be the pressures of acculturation
The Coding is Equivalent to World Language Myth – Should We Look In The Mirror?
The “Coding is Equivalent to World Language” Myth – Should We Look in the Mirror? Coding ≠ World Language Some state legislatures have proposed that students who learn to code should earn world language credits. Is learning to code equivalent to learning a world language? The very idea of this seems absurd to a language
Test Reliability And Validity
Why Test Reliability and Validity are Important “Test reliability” and “validity” are two of the most misunderstood terms in language testing. Both are very important in determining whether a particular test is appropriate in a given situation. Test Reliability Defined Simply stated, reliability means that if you give the same test to the same student
Fixed Form VS. Adaptive Test Design In Language Proficiency Testing
Fixed-Form vs. Adaptive Test Design For Language Proficiency Testing What Are The Differences Between Fixed-Form And Adaptive Test Design? There are two fundamental test designs in language proficiency assessment: Fixed-Form Testing and Adaptive Testing. In a fixed form test, every test taker receives the same items (aka questions) that are delivered on paper or computer.
How Standards Are Used In Language Proficiency Assessments
How Standards Are Used In Language Proficiency Language proficiency assessment can seem complex or even mysterious – a black box that just spits out a score. However, it isn’t that complicated once you get familiarized with a few basic concepts. We describe some of these basic concepts in the next few blog entries. Standards-Based (or
What is Language Proficiency?
What Is Language Proficiency? What Language Proficiency Isn’t Proficiency is definitely NOT what I learned in my college Japanese courses. What proficiency is a much-discussed word in the language field. But what proficiency are we assessing? Proficiency at conjugating verbs or reproducing dialogues memorized in the classroom? After all, someone who does these well is probably
Proficiency VS. Performance VS. Achievement
Proficiency vs. Performance vs. Achievement Simply stated, Proficiency is the ability to use language in a real-world situation, Performance is the ability to use language in a limited and controlled situation such as a classroom or controlled situation-based exchange, and Achievement is the ability to repeat language elements that have been taught and mastered at