Abstract:
The IDEA Proficiency Tests (IPT) for Reading and Writing (Spanish) were designed to assess the reading and writing skills in Spanish of children with other native languages. The IPT3 is for use in grades 7-12. The Reading Test has five sections that assess different domains: 1) Vocabulary, in which one of four words is chosen to describe a picture, 2) Vocabulary in Context, in which one of four words is chosen to complete a sentence, 3) Reading and Understanding, in which a prose passage is followed by related comprehension questions like those in Vocabulary in Context, 4) Reading for Life Skills, which has the same format as Reading and Understanding, but uses product labels as well as newspaper and magazine articles, and 5) Language Usage, which emphasizes grammar and punctuation. The Writing Test has three sections: 1) Conventions, in which a multiple-choice sentence completion task tests knowledge of writing conventions like capitalization, punctuation, and abbreviations, 2) Write a Story, in which the examinee writes a few sentences to describe a picture story, and 3) Write Your Own Story, in which the examinee writes a brief, argumentative essay. Administration time for both tests together is approximately two hours and the objective sections may be scored either by hand using a template, or by machine. Writing samples are scored by examiners or test administrators using a set of rubrics, or samples from each scoring level accompanied by descriptive criteria. Writing Test Scorers must be trained by the publisher and two raters score each student's writing. When raters are in disagreement, a third rater intervenes. Scores of 1, 2, and 3 correspond to designations of "Non-Spanish", "Limited Spanish", and "Fluent/Competent Spanish". Objective scores are grouped according to the same scale and these scores can be converted to standard scores, percentile ranks, and normal curve equivalents. In a pilot study of 100 students whose native language is Spanish, Cronbach's Alpha revealed an internal consistency of .92 for the objective portion of the test, and overall test-retest reliability was r=.86. For the subjective portions of the writing test, inter-rater reliability ranged from .61-.73. No concurrent validity with other tests was assessed. Norms used to generate percentile rankings were established on approximately 800 students. An English language version of these tests exists with the same format and slightly different estimates of reliability and validity.