Adjustment to the Exemption Date for English Language Learners

On July 22, 2009, the Department posted a revised 2009-10 Elementary- and Intermediate-level testing schedule, which included a change in the administration date from January to late April for the 2010 Grades 3-8 English Language Arts (ELA) Tests. This change necessitates an adjustment to the date used to determine whether recently arrived English Language Learners may be exempted from these tests.

Read more...

Window for Ordering 2010 NYSESLAT Now Open

The SchoolHouse Online Order Management System for ordering the New York State English as a Second Language Achievement Test (NYSESLAT) is now operational. Memos have gone out to building principals with directions for ordering the exam. Orders for the NYSESLAT may be placed beginning January 6, 2010. All initial orders should be placed by Friday, February 5, 2010.

Additional instructions about logging in are provided in the NYSESLAT User’s Guide for Enrollment for Operational Tests. While the SchoolHouse system is designed to be user-friendly, you may have some questions during the test enrollment process. Please direct your questions to the Pearson Customer Support Center (CSC) at 1-888-705-9415 between the hours of 8:00 AM and 6:00 PM EST, or by e-mail at nyseslat.custsvc@support.pearson.com

Additional information about NYSESLAT is available on the State Education Department’s web site at www.emsc.nysed.gov/osa/nyseslat/home.shtml

Make-Up Dates for NYSESLAT 2010 Extended

The New York State Education Department has extended the make-up dates for the administration of the 2010 NYSESLAT due to the observance of the Jewish holiday, Shavuot, during the week of May 17-21, 2010. In order to give schools an opportunity to administer the Listening, Reading, and Writing subtests of the NYSESLAT to all of their English language learners, the make-up dates for administration have been extended to Thursday, May 27, 2010.

Please see the memorandums, "A Change in the Make-up Dates for the 2010 New York State English as a Second Language Achievement Test (NYSESLAT)" and the related "Elementary- and Intermediate-Level Testing Schedule for the 2009-10 School Year, updated November 24, 2009" for detailed information.

These documents may be found here:

http://emsc.nysed.gov/osa/nyseslat/2010-nyseslat-admindatechange.pdf

http://emsc.nysed.gov/osa/schedules/2010/3-8schedule-11242009.pdf

Upcoming BETAC Conferences:

Please see our events page for information on our events.

NYSED Office of Bilingual Education/Foreign Language Studies Adds FAQ Section to Website

In an effort to respond to the needs of practitioners in the field, the Office of Bilingual Education & Foreign Language Studies has added a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page to its website. This document represents a collection of the most common questions gathered by OBE-FLS from constituents in the field. A more extensive and detailed version of this document, entitled "Guidelines for Programs for Limited English Proficient/English Language Learners (LEP/ELLs)," will be available at the beginning of 2009.

If you cannot find the specific answer to your question, or if you would like further clarification of the information contained in this FAQ document, please contact BETAC office at (518) 477-8771. Any additional questions or suggestions may be forwarded to: OBEFLS@mail.nysed.gov. Please write "FAQ" in the subject line of the e-mail.

The FAQ page can be found at http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/biling/faq_000.htm. There is also a link to the site at www.betac.org.