Language Assessment Center (LAC)

Table of Contents

Assessment and Placement Process

If your child is an English Learner who is about to enroll in Fresno Unified, you’re probably curious to know the details of the English Learner Services (ELS) evaluation and placement process. For your convenience, we’ve broken the process down into five steps.

Step 1: Registration & Home Language Survey

When you go to the school to enroll your child, you’ll be asked to complete a Home Language Survey. This brief questionnaire asks four simple questions:

Which language did your child learn to speak first?
Which language does your child use most often?
Which language do adults use when speaking with the child?
Which language do the adults in the family speak?

If the answer to all of these questions is English, your child will be identified as an English Only student and be enrolled in mainstream classes.

However, if the answer to any of these questions is a language other than English, you will proceed to:

Step 2: English Language Proficiency Assessment

Your child will be referred to the Language Assessment Center (map), where he or she will take the Initial English Language Proficiency Assessments for California (ELPAC). This standardized test measures your child’s proficiency in listening, speaking, reading and writing in English.

Based on these results, your child will be identified in one of these levels: Novice English Learner, Intermediate English Learner, or Initially Fluent English Proficient (IFEP)

If your child’s ELPAC level is identified as an English Learner, you will proceed to:

Step 3: Primary Language Assessment

If your child’s ELPAC level is identified as an English Learner, he or she will need to have a Primary Language Assessment done. This test measures your child’s proficiency in his or her primary language.

This test, combined with the ELPAC, will allow us to better understand your child’s needs and make appropriate program recommendations. Once all test results are in, we will proceed to:

Step 4: Parent Notification of Assessment Results

Once we’ve reviewed your child’s test results, our staff will meet with you personally to share the results and inform you of the instructional programs that are available to your child.

Step 5: Program Placement

Your child will be placed in one of four programs based on our recommendations and your input: Structured English Immersion, Mainstream, Bilingual Education, or Two-Way Immersion.