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 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 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. BEST Literacy 2.0 is available for purchase.

Read the Federal Register official notice.

BEST Literacy 2.0 is available for purchase for now and BEST Plus 2.0 will be available later in 2024. 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 the monthly BEST Newsletter that you can you can sign up for.