Instructional Planning, Assessment, and Professional Practice
Domain overview
This domain tests planning, assessment, and professional collaboration for ELs. Expect questions on standards-aligned objectives, scaffolds, formative and summative assessment, accommodations, and using data responsibly.
Core concepts
- Backward design: start with content standards and evidence of learning, then plan instruction and assessment.
- Content objective vs language objective: content names the science/math/ELA skill; language names the discourse, vocabulary, or sentence structure students use to demonstrate it.
- Know proficiency levels (e.g., WIDA) and 'can do' descriptors; scaffolds should reduce language barriers without reducing cognitive demand.
- Formative assessment is ongoing and informs grouping and feedback; summative assessment measures mastery.
- Accommodations change access (visuals, extended time, bilingual glossary) but not the construct; modifications change expectations.
- Collaborate with EL specialists, families, and general educators; keep student data confidential.
Worked example
A grade 4 science lesson on the water cycle has the content objective 'explain how water moves through evaporation, condensation, and precipitation.' A matching language objective is 'describe the sequence using first, next, and finally with cause-effect language.' The teacher preteaches key terms with visuals, models a cycle diagram, provides a word bank and sentence frames, and has partners rehearse. Assessment: students label a diagram and give a short oral explanation. This assesses science understanding while supporting, not replacing, language demands.
Traps
Do not write a language objective that is just 'learn vocabulary' with no observable use; do not translate the entire assessment unless the construct allows it; do not confuse accommodation with modification; do not plan only from deficits; do not ignore assessment bias or misuse a single score for placement.