Oregon City district staff outline ELPA test demands as just 38 of 415 students met proficiency last year

Kelly Gavrich, the district’s English language development TOSA and district test coordinator, told the Oregon City School District 62 board at its Jan. 27 work session that the English Language Proficiency Assessment, known as ELPA, is the required state test used to determine whether students who are English learners can access grade-level classroom content.

Gavrich said the ELPA, created by the ELPA 21 consortium and administered under Oregon Department of Education requirements, measures four language domains — listening, speaking, reading and writing — and is grouped into grade bands from kindergarten through high school. She told the board that 415 students took ELPA in the district last year and 38 achieved the proficiency standard required to exit English language development services.

The ELPA is time-consuming and rigorous, Gavrich said. For kindergarten through fifth grade the exam totals about an hour to an hour and a half (administered in shorter segments), middle school testing typically takes about 2 1/2 hours and high school testing about three hours. She noted a state waiver allows certain high-school domain scores to carry forward within grades 9–12 but that carryover does not apply when the test changes across earlier grade bands.

Gavrich told board members the district has about 800 students who have ever been identified as English learners, with about 120 classified as long-term English learners (students who have been in U.S. schools learning English for six years or more). She said students in the district speak roughly 55 different languages at home and that younger students occasionally qualify for services because screeners assess them at the grade level they are entering.

The district’s presentation laid out how families designate language background during registration through the state-required language use survey (called up in the parent portal, Synergy); Gavrich said the online portal translates into many languages and schools provide in-person registration help and paper options when technology is a barrier. She noted families can refuse English language development (ELD) services but cannot opt children out of ELPA testing except through a formal exemption for disability or religious reasons submitted in writing.

Gavrich and other staff described the district’s efforts to improve outcomes after seeing low pass rates: adopting a comprehensive ELD curriculum, goal-setting with students using ELPA score reports, deeper intervention on writing (the domain staff identified as the most common barrier), and coaching classroom teachers to support academic language in all subjects. She described accommodations that can be used for students with documented needs — for example, separate settings or dictation tools that must be recorded in a student’s 504/IEP documentation.

Board members asked about test fatigue, accommodations, how the district distinguishes limited English from native-language attrition, and whether ELPA outcomes translate to college admissions; Gavrich said she did not know whether ELPA proficiency substitutes for English proficiency tests colleges require. She emphasized teachers know students well and that district staff are trying to reduce barriers and make testing conditions supportive so students can show their best performance.

The presentation included sample tasks and rubrics for attendees to review with the stated goal of helping classroom teachers understand the language and content demands students must meet on the assessment. Gavrich closed by offering contact information for district staff and reaffirming that ELPA results are only one snapshot and that the district is monitoring students for four years after they exit services to ensure continued progress.

Ending: The board did not take formal action on the assessment during the session; staff said the district will continue implementing curriculum changes, student goal-setting and teacher supports intended to raise ELPA outcomes in future years.