Linquanti Assesses Selection of Just One Consortium for New English-Language Proficiency Tests

Education Week — November 15, 2011

Earlier this fall, two consortia of states applied for federal grants to develop the next generation of English-language proficiency (ELP) tests. Only the 28-state consortium led by the state of Wisconsin won a $10.5 million grant.

Robert Linquanti, Senior Research Associate at WestEd, thinks it's regrettable that the 15-state consortium led by the state of California did not receive a grant. As quoted in this article, Linquanti believes that having more colleagues and more competition involved would benefit English language learners. He was proposed as an advisor to both consortia.

Creating these tests is significant. This article goes on to point out that English language learners number more than 5 million nationwide and are the fastest-growing student subgroup in the nation.