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…
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…
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…
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,…
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-…
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…
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…
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…
With the Seal of Biliteracy Expanding, Avant Assessment Announces Polish Proficiency Assessment; Assessment Launched In Michigan Will Be New Option for States With Large Polish Populations EUGENE, OR (February 8,…
Tell me and I forget Teach me and I remember Involve me and I learn -Benjamin Franklin The publication of the ACTFL…
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…
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…
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…
“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….
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…
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…
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…
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…
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;…
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?…
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…
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,…
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…
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…
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…