Student Performance Levels (SPLs) and National Reporting System (NRS) ESL Functioning Level Descriptors

The two charts that follow give the descriptors for the seven Student Performance Levels (SPLs) for listening comprehension and oral communication and for the six functioning levels for English language learners in speaking and listening, reading and writing, and functional workplace skills. These descriptors show what adult English learners will be able to do if they receive a given score on tests that are used for federal accountability reporting. The tests included in the charts are the Basic English Skills Test (BEST) Oral, BEST Literacy, BEST Plus, and CASAS Life Skills — Reading. For example, if a learner is taking BEST Plus as a measure of oral English proficiency and scores 340, that learner is at SPL 1 for speaking and, in the NRS scale, at Beginning ESL Literacy for speaking and listening.