This comprehensive and easy-to-read book explores both the theory and practice of English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) assessment and is full of work samples, ideas, organizers, and personal experiences that all readers can use or adapt for their own situations. The primary goal is to provide proven and effective assessment methods. As ESL students make progress toward literacy, they pass many milestones on the learning continuum. This book seeks to explore that continuum and its relationship to the basic issues of alternative assessment. They discuss why ongoing, observation-based assessment makes sense when evaluating students who are acquiring a new language; how to evaluate ESL students for placement and follow-up; how to look "through" the errors to identify what students know; how to collect and record information by observing the product and the process and by using traditional assessment tools; how to present this information; the thorny issue of grading ESL students; and four case studies showing how different educators have responded to different ESL situations. Numerous illustrations, figures, and matrices as well as sample checklists and questionnaires appear throughout the text. There are two appendices, "Grading Guidelines for Writing," and "Reproducible Masters" (containing blank questionnaires, checklists, and note-taking forms), a glossary, a bibliography, and an index. (KFT)