Emergent Bilingual Program
Emergent Bilinguals
English Language Proficiency Assessments for California (ELPAC)
California’s statewide test for English language proficiency.
Program Overview
The English Language Proficiency Assessments for California (ELPAC) is the required state test for English language proficiency (ELP) that must be given to students whose primary language is a language other than English. State and federal law require that local educational agencies administer a state test of ELP to eligible students in kindergarten through grade twelve. The California Department of Education (CDE) transitioned from the California English Language Development Test (CELDT) to the ELPAC as the state ELP assessment in 2018. The ELPAC is aligned with the 2012 California English Language Development Standards. It consists of two separate ELP assessments: one for the initial identification of students as Emergent Bilinguals (EBs), and a second for the annual summative assessment to measure a student’s progress in learning English and to identify the student's level of ELP. The ELPAC assesses public school students in K–12 in the following four domains in English:
- Listening
- Speaking
- Reading
- Writing
The Summative ELPAC results show the overall English performance level attained by students, as well as performance for each composite. The performance levels are reported as the following:
- Level 1
- Level 2
- Level 3
- Level 4
