Assessing Listening & Speaking Proficiency (TELPAS)

Assessing Listening & Speaking Proficiency (TELPAS)

The Statutory Role and LPAC Mandate of TELPAS

In Texas public schools, the annual assessment of Emergent Bilingual (EB) students' English language growth is federally mandated under Title III of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and state policy in 19 TAC Chapter 89. Texas fulfills this mandate through the Texas English Language Proficiency Assessment System (TELPAS). TELPAS measures annual student progress in acquiring academic English across four language domains: Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing.

TELPAS results provide critical data for the Language Proficiency Assessment Committee (LPAC). The LPAC utilizes TELPAS scores to monitor annual linguistic progress, evaluate bilingual/ESL program effectiveness, determine appropriate linguistic accommodations for STAAR standardized testing, and guide annual reclassification decisions. To be reclassified as English proficient, an EB student must demonstrate Advanced High proficiency on TELPAS across all domains, satisfy STAAR reading standards, and pass a holistic teacher evaluation.

TELPAS Proficiency Level Descriptors (PLDs) Overview

TELPAS categorizes student language development across four progressive stages using Proficiency Level Descriptors (PLDs). The PLDs define observable student behaviors and linguistic capabilities across the four proficiency tiers: Beginning, Intermediate, Advanced, and Advanced High. Educators must master these descriptor profiles to evaluate student performance accurately during daily instruction and formal rating.

Listening PLDs Profile Summary & Classroom Indicators

• Beginning Listening: Students struggle to comprehend simple, routine classroom commands even with extensive visual support and physical modeling. They understand primarily isolated words and memorized social phrases ("Quiet," "Sit down"). When listening to academic lectures, they experience rapid processing fatigue and tune out without visual realia or L1 translation.
• Intermediate Listening: Students comprehend short, simple social conversations and routine classroom directions on familiar topics. During academic instruction, they require pre-taught vocabulary, simplified sentence structures, visual graphic organizers, and intentional audio pauses. They frequently ask speakers to repeat or slow down.
• Advanced Listening: Students comprehend longer, complex academic discussions on familiar and unfamiliar topics with minimal repetition. They understand main ideas, key details, and implicit meanings, requiring occasional processing time or context cues for low-frequency Tier 3 vocabulary.
• Advanced High Listening: Students comprehend complex, extended academic discourse, lectures, and debates with minimal linguistic support, performing at a level comparable to native English-speaking peers.

Speaking PLDs Profile Summary & Classroom Indicators

• Beginning Speaking: Students speak in isolated words or short memorized phrases ("Yes," "Bathroom please"). They pause frequently and display severe pronunciation interference that significantly obscures meaning. They are unable to participate in academic group discussions without extensive visual support.
• Intermediate Speaking: Students speak in simple sentences using high-frequency Tier 1 vocabulary. They express basic personal thoughts and handle routine social exchanges but exhibit frequent pauses and grammar errors (such as tense shifts and missing pronouns) when attempting complex academic ideas.
• Advanced Speaking: Students participate actively in academic conversations using complex sentence structures and academic conjunctions (because, although, however). Grammar and pronunciation errors occur occasionally but rarely obscure overall message clarity.
• Advanced High Speaking: Students speak fluently, abstractly, and persuasively on complex academic topics using precise Tier 2 and Tier 3 vocabulary. Grammatical errors are minor and comparable to native English speakers.

Formative Assessment: Observational Checklists, Portfolios, and Holistic Rubrics

While TELPAS serves as an annual summative measure, Texas teachers must continuously evaluate oral language progress formatively to adjust daily instruction:

• Observational Checklists: Teachers utilize ELPS-aligned checklists during small-group activities to document specific behaviors (e.g., "Uses academic sentence frame to defend claim").
• Audio Portfolios & Student Self-Monitoring: Collecting periodic student voice recordings (such as oral summaries or lab report explanations) allows teachers and LPAC committees to track longitudinal progress in fluency, pronunciation, and vocabulary usage over time. Self-monitoring rubrics empower EBs to evaluate their own speaking progress, set concrete language goals, and reflect on their growth.
• Holistic Rubrics vs. Analytic Rubrics: When evaluating oral language, teachers should utilize holistic rubrics rather than analytic grammar-deduction rubrics. Analytic rubrics penalize EBs for every minor grammatical mistake, whereas holistic rubrics evaluate overall communicative effectiveness, message clarity, and functional language use.

Campus Rater Calibration Procedures & LPAC Documentation

To ensure valid and reliable evaluation during TELPAS administration, Texas mandates rigorous rater calibration procedures. Teachers completing holistic ratings must participate in standardized calibration sessions where they independently rate sample student audio recordings and writing samples. Raters must achieve a minimum 70% agreement score with state-calibrated benchmark ratings before being authorized to submit official TELPAS ratings for students.

Campus administrators and LPAC chairs conduct audit spot-checks to verify that ratings are substantiated by empirical classroom work samples. Documenting student evidence in LPAC files ensures compliance with Title III and state mandates under 19 TAC Chapter 89.

TELPAS Speaking & Listening PLD Matrix