The Comprehensive English Language Learning Assessment (CELLA) is a four-modality English language proficiency developed jointly by AccountabilityWorks and the Educational Testing Service (ETS). CELLA is designed to provide:

1. Evidence of program accountability in accordance with Title III of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), which calls for schools and districts to meet state accountability objectives for increasing the English-language proficiency of English Language Learners.
   
2. Data useful for charting student progress over time and, for newly arrived students, charting progress over the first year.
   
3. Information about the language proficiency levels of individual students that can be used in making decisions regarding placement into, or exit from, ESL or bilingual education programs.
   
4. Diagnostically useful information about individual students’ strengths and weaknesses in English (with as much specificity as possible within the limitations of a large-scale standardized test).
   
5. Initial development of CELLA was funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education.
   
6. The test was developed by AccountabilityWorks and ETS and a consortium of five states: Florida, Maryland, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee.
   
7. The test items included in this assessment are based on the CELLA proficiency benchmarks that, in turn, are aligned to the English language development standards of the five consortium states.
   
8. Each test level is associated with specific grades and provides assessment in four modalities: Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing.
   
9. Listening and Speaking items were calibrated together on a single vertical scale. In addition, vertical scales for Reading and for Writing were created.