Basic English Skills Test ( BEST )
published by Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL)  

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BEST Form B&C Oral Interview

BEST Literacy
         BEST Literacy Discount Ordering Procedures for Texas Adult Education Programs

BEST Plus Oral English Proficiency Test
        BEST Plus Discount Ordering Procedures for Texas Adult Education Programs

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BEST Form B&C Oral Interview
Originally published in 1989, the BEST oral interview Form B and C was taken off the market by its publisher Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL) on September 30, 2006. It has been replaced by the BEST Plus Oral Proficiency Test, which has become CAL's assessment of oral English proficiency for adults, encompassing SPL (student performance levels) 1-10. Effective July 1, 2007, all limited English proficient students must be administered the BEST Plus for oral language assessment.

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BEST Literacy
On October 1, 2006, CAL published an updated version of the BEST literacy skills section. This new version of the test, called BEST Literacy, features new photos and graphics that reflect today's styles and current food, clothing, and housing prices. These changes did not affect the integrity of the test, which uses the same administration and scoring procedures as the BEST Form B&C Literacy Skills Test. Programs can continue to use up their supply of the "old" BEST Form B&C Literacy Skills Test, as it is interchangeable with the three forms of BEST Literacy. According to CAL, you can pre-test with BEST Form B&C Literacy Skills Test and post-test the same student with the new BEST Literacy Form B, C, or D, as long as a different letter form of the test is used from one assessment to the next on a given student.

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BEST Literacy Ordering Procedures – Texas
Discounted Prices effective July 1, 2007 – June 30, 2008

BEST Literacy Pricing

BESTLiteracy Examinee Test Booklets (Forms B, C, or D)	$ 1.725 per unit (sold in sets of 20 - $34.50 per set; retail through CAL is $45 for 20)
BEST Literacy Test Manuals (coving all three forms)	$22.50 per unit (retail through CAL is $25.00)

Approximately once per calendar year, TCALL solicits orders for BEST Literacy from eligible local programs as part of a bulk discount order for the state. These ordering cycles are announced on TCALL's email discussion lists for Administrators, EL Civics, and Even Start Family Literacy programs.

At any time, programs may place orders for BEST Literacy directly with CAL, please visit their online store. However, regular, non-discounted retail prices and shipping charges will be applied to all orders placed directly with CAL.

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BEST Plus Oral English Proficiency Test
BEST Plus, an adaptation of the oral interview section of the Basic English Skills TEST (BEST), is an assessment of the oral proficiency of adult English language learners. Encompassing SPL (student performance levels) 1-10, BEST Plus is administered as a face-to-face oral interview and provides the flexibility of administering the test using either an adaptive, computer-based version or a semi-adaptive, print-based version (available in three equivalent forms, A, B, and C). For more information on BEST Plus visit CAL's website.

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BEST Plus Ordering Procedures – Texas
July 1, 2007 – June 30, 2008

BEST Plus test materials can be ordered only by programs that have access to the services of a CAL-certified BEST Plus test administrator.

Who is a BEST Plus Certified Test Administrator?
After each BEST Plus training workshop, the CAL trainer or state BEST Plus trainer who conducted it is required to send to CAL the Test Administrator Registration forms that were completed by all workshop participants. CAL staff enters the information from these forms into their test administrator database, where each test administrator is then associated with the specific program(s) to which they belong or for whom they test.

For information on how to obtain BEST Plus training, contact your regional GREAT Center. When test administrators contact CAL to activate computer-based test administrations (or to score print-based test administrations using the Score Management Software on the BEST Plus Test CD), they must login with their email address and Customer Number to verify that they are 1) a trained test administrator from the registry and 2) associated with the program for which they are requesting test administrations to be activated.

Approximately three times per calendar year, TCALL solicits orders from local programs as part of a bulk discount order for the state. These ordering cycles are announced on TCALL's email discussion lists. CAL will not charge shipping for bulk orders placed through the distribution center (e.g., TCALL) and delivered to that one address. TCALL adds a 5% shipping charge to cover the cost of insured mailing of print materials from TCALL to the local programs.

Should programs wish to place orders for print materials directly with CAL, please visit their online store: 
http://calstore.cal.org/store/topics/bestplus.aspx 

Regular, non-discounted retail prices and shipping charges will be applied to all orders placed directly with CAL.

PRINT-BASED - BEST Plus

The following are BEST Plus print materials and discounted prices for Texas:

Test Booklets (Forms A, B, & C)         $    .95 per unit    (sold in sets of 20 - $19 per set; retail through CAL is $30 per set of 20)

• Picture Cue Books (Forms A, B, & C) $13.50 per unit    (retail through CAL is $15 each)
• Test Administrator Guides (TAG’s)   $27.00 per unit     (sold to certified trainers only; retail through CAL is $30 each)

COMPUTER-BASED - BEST Plus

Procedures for Ordering Computer-Based Test Administrations
Follow the procedures for ordering the print-based test administrations (as described above). The price per test administration is $.90 as per CAL’s agreement with Texas. (Retail through CAL is $1.00 each.) The only difference is that since these are electronic administrations, there is no "delivery" in the conventional sense.

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For more information on how the BEST tests are used in accordance with the State Assessment Policy, see the Assessment Policy section of the Adult Education Administrator’s Manual.

For more information on the BEST Plus or BEST Literacy test:

Call:            1-866-845-BEST (2378)
Email:          best-plus@cal.org   (General)
BPSupport@cal.org (Support)

Fax:              1-888-700-3629
Write:           4646 40th Street, NW,
Washington, DC  20016-1859

For Answers to Other Frequently Asked Questions, please see
http://www.cal.org/bestplus/faqs/index.html
 
FOR A SHORT GUIDE ON HOW TO OBTAIN YOUR PURCHASE CODE, PLEASE VISIT
http://www.cal.org/bestplus/guide.html
 
Visit CAL’s website at    http://www.best-plus.net/