It may have been a few years since your language department implemented an ACTFL assessment in the effort to better understand your students’ language ability. As a teacher whose school has just completed its pilot year of offering the AAPPL to our students, we are definitely still learning about how this new tool will affect how our students set goals for their learning and how our faculty engages with them. However, I can already see the long-term value of this practice of creating touchpoints and tangible standards for which our students can strive.
Making Student Progress Visible: The Need for Clear, Objective Language Assessment Data
In truth, it can be very difficult for students to understand their growth in language abilities. Anyone who has learned a language can relate to the ambiguity of feeling that you are making progress towards proficiency but lacking the metrics to measure it. In our current educational climate, students and their parents are very data-driven. They want class averages, national performance reports, and the ability to compare their results with those of students of the same level across their school, county, state, and nationally. This is exactly where I can see the AAPPL becoming a shining beacon of data-based guidance for our students, and moreover, one that is created by a qualified team of objective assessors.
Objective Assessment Protocols: Addressing Grade Inflation and Supporting Student Growth
A year ago, my language department started the process of implementing a testing protocol to demystify student progression towards proficiency by removing the subjectivity in the feedback process and providing students and teachers with detailed objective feedback. According to the NAEP’s National Assessment of Educational Progress’s 2024 Report Card, the combination of grade inflation and declining national assessment scores is creating confusion about how students perceive their academic growth. The data report indicates that while students are getting higher and higher grades, they are, in fact, learning less overall. As educators, we have to put ourselves in our students’ shoes and see how discouraging it could be to receive such mixed and confusing information. In the effort to combat this mixed message, schools like mine, and many others across the country, are taking proactive steps, such as the implementation of a peer-developed and research-validated assessment, as a method to combat this trend while preserving trust, relationships, and rapport in the school community.
Unlocking the Power of Individualized Student Data for Language Growth
The individual data produced by ACTFL assessments and the ability to track student language development are the essential pieces of the puzzle lacking to many language educators. I am fortunate to work at a school dedicated to language instruction and to benefit from an already robust curriculum and wonderful faculty. But I see that we are only just scratching the surface of how we can use this tool to strengthen our teaching, facilitate realistic assessment, and encourage our students to take the lead in their individualized growth through the consistent, reliable guidance provided by ACTFL assessments.
Bringing ACTFL assessments to your school, such as the AAPPL, is quick and easy. Contact the LTI team to get more information and bring the Gold Standard in language assessments to your program.
