What are SPLs and how are they related to the National Reporting System (NRS)?
The Student Performance Levels (SPLs) are descriptions of English language proficiency levels for adult non-native speakers of English. The SPLs were developed in the mid-1980s as part of the Mainstream English Language Training (MELT) project under the Office of Refugee Resettlement of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The SPLs were developed so that teachers in the refugees camps such as the Philippines or Thailand and programs in the United States (where the learners would eventually go) could communicate effectively about adult learners’ English skills. The SPLs described general language ability as well as the four skills; listening comprehension, oral communication, reading, and writing. That is, the SPLs were developed so that a refugee program in Arlington, Virginia or Denver Colorado, or Bataan, Philippines, could all understand–generally–what it meant for a learner to be a SPL 3 in listening (for example). With input from adult ESL practitioners around the U
