Now, not all of the abilities and skills ESL students possess may be ready ammunition for the school’s academic demands. There real-life skills may need refinement to be applied to new situations. Students’ experiences may need to be extended so that they can befit, as educators, we acknowledge the reality that ESL students have a wealth of knowledge; we cannot callously accept these young men and women as mere statistics in studies that show them to be dismal failures in school. Currently, testing and test results are the sole sources for the indictment of ESL student as failures. In many schools, however, the validity of this practice is seriously being challenged (Batzle, 1992; Haney & Madaus, 1989). The conviction of testing and test invalidity seems almost general across educators in virtually every state. This is evident in the volumes of literature which document the breakdown and downfall of student achievement within the standardized system of measurement. Equally evident in this literature is the focus on portfolios as an alternative to standardized tests. ESL educators are particularly enthusiastic about this trend. They recognize authentic assessment as an opportunity to bridge serious information gaps and are hopeful that the specific practice of assessment through portfolios can indeed bring it all together for our ESL youth.