Proficiency Levels Flashcards

Which organization develops and oversees TELPAS in Texas?

Answer: Texas Education Agency (TEA)

The Texas Education Agency develops and administers TELPAS as part of the state's accountability system for ELLs.

A student scoring at the Intermediate level in Listening can most likely:

Answer: Follow simple conversations and understand high-frequency phrases

Intermediate listeners can follow simple, familiar conversations but need contextual support for more complex listening tasks.

In TELPAS holistic rating, which approach do teachers use to determine a student's speaking level?

Answer: Comparing student performance to proficiency-level descriptors over time

Teachers compare accumulated observations of student speaking to the TELPAS proficiency-level descriptors to assign a holistic rating.

Which TELPAS proficiency level best describes a student who writes multi-paragraph texts with mostly correct grammar but occasional complex-structure errors?

Answer: Advanced

Advanced writers produce multi-paragraph texts with good control but still make errors with complex grammatical structures.

What distinguishes Advanced High from Advanced in the TELPAS framework?

Answer: Advanced High students exhibit near-native proficiency with minimal errors

Advanced High is distinguished by near-native English proficiency with only occasional, minor errors across all language domains.

How often must Texas public schools administer TELPAS to identified ELL students?

Answer: Annually

Texas law requires annual TELPAS administration for all identified English language learners in grades K–12.

A student at the Beginning level in Speaking would most likely:

Answer: Use memorized phrases or single words to communicate basic needs

Beginning speakers rely on memorized chunks and single words, demonstrating very limited productive English speech.