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Adult English Assessments

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Thank you for being a valued customer of the BEST family of testing products published by the Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL). We share your dedication to helping adult English learners succeed in the classroom and in their careers.

CAL is committed to providing our test users with the highest quality of valid and reliable assessments. As part of this process, CAL works closely with the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education (OCTAE) to ensure that our assessments meet the needs of programs utilizing the National Reporting System.

This section of our website is designed to provide our customers with easy online access to tools and tips for using our assessments. There is also a section for BEST Plus 2.0 trainers.

Email CAL with any questions or suggestions you may have about how we can improve our testing instruments, tools, or customer service.

BEST Plus 2.0 Test Administrators
BEST Literacy Test Administrators
BEST Plus 2.0 Trainers
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The number of adult English language learners in the United States continues to grow substantially and programs serving them face many challenges in providing instruction to meet their needs. Having tests that are appropriate, valid, and reliable is critical to the evaluation of oral and written English proficiency for this growing population. CAL understands these challenges and can help programs determine the best combination of assessments to meet the needs of both the programs and the students.

BEST assessments address the needs of adult English language learners by providing assessment options that reliably demonstrate student progress. With BEST Plus to measure speaking and listening skills and BEST Literacy to measure reading and writing skills, programs can test all four skill areas.

BEST Plus 2.0 and BEST Literacy Approved Through June 30, 2025.

The Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education (OCTAE) at the U.S. Department of Education has extended the approval of BEST Plus 2.0 and BEST Literacy for use by federally funded programs that report data through the National Reporting System (NRS) through June 30, 2025. 

This extension is scheduled alongside the sunset of the current ESL educational functioning level descriptors to which BEST Plus 2.0 and BEST Literacy are aligned. This extension is intended to provide states with sufficient time to carry out the operational activities required for the transition to the new ESL assessments. Until June 30, 2025, the current ESL educational functioning level descriptors and the new ESL educational functioning level descriptors will be in effect.

BEST Plus 3.0 and BEST Literacy 2.0 Approved Through July 13, 2030.

These new, enhanced versions of the tests – which are aligned with the new NRS Educational Functioning Level descriptors– are now available for purchase and are approved for NRS reporting purposes. Each test has been refreshed with up-to-date content and new items types that assess college and career skills. In addition, BEST Plus 3.0 is moving to a new app-based delivery with cloud storage.

Read the Federal Register official notice.

BEST Plus 3.0 and BEST Literacy 2.0 are available for purchase now. Both generations of BEST assessments will be supported until June 30, 2025. CAL will be communicating more information about the transition to BEST Plus 3.0 and BEST Literacy 2.0 on the FAQs page, as well as in the monthly BEST Newsletter.

The number of adult English language learners in the United States continues to grow substantially and programs serving them face many challenges in providing instruction to meet their needs. Having tests that are appropriate, valid, and reliable is critical to the evaluation of oral and written English proficiency for this growing population. CAL understands these challenges and can help programs determine the best combination of assessments to meet the needs of both the programs and the students.

BEST assessments address the needs of adult English language learners by providing assessment options that reliably demonstrate student progress. With BEST Plus to measure speaking and listening skills and BEST Literacy to measure reading and writing skills, programs can test all of  four skill areas.

BEST Plus 2.0 and BEST Literacy Approved Through June 30, 2024.

The Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education (OCTAE) at the U.S. Department of Education has extended the approval of BEST Plus 2.0 and BEST Literacy for use by federally funded programs that report data through the National Reporting System (NRS) through June 30, 2024. This extension is scheduled alongside the sunset of the current ESL educational functioning level descriptors to which BEST Plus 2.0 and BEST Literacy are aligned. 

BEST Plus 3.0 and BEST Literacy 2.0 Approved Through July 13, 2030.

These new, enhanced versions of the test- which are aligned with the new NRS Educational Functioning Level descriptors– will soon be available for NRS reporting purposes. Each test has been refreshed with up-to-date content and new items types that assess college and career skills. In addition, BEST Plus 3.0 will be moving to a new app-based delivery with cloud storage.

Read the Federal Register official notice.

CAL will be communicating more information about the transition to BEST Plus 3.0 and BEST Literacy 2.0 on the FAQs page, as well as the monthly BEST Newsletter that you can you can sign up for.

BEST Plus 2.0

BEST Plus 2.0 is an individually administered, face-to-face oral interview designed to assess the English language proficiency of adult English language learners in the United States. BEST Plus2.0 is a combined test of listening and speaking skills. As an oral assessment, BEST Plus 2.0 provides a short, practical test that meets the accountability needs of programs that report to the National Reporting System (NRS).

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BEST Literacy

BEST Literacy is a print-based, combined test of reading and writing skills. The test uses authentic situations specifically geared for adult English language learners in the United States as the basis for test questions. BEST Literacy is aligned with the ESL descriptors of the National Reporting System and the Student Performance levels.

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