The aims of the projects described in this paper were to develop and evaluate a new approach to the assessment of English language skills of English as a second language (ESL) students. The approach makes use of optical scanning equipment in scoring cloze-elide test exercises, thereby providing a rapid, relatively inexpensive and objective measure of language proficiency. The cloze-elide technique requires the test taker to strike out irrelevant or incorrect words that have been inserted into a prose passage. An assessment of language proficiency at the elementary and secondary levels was carried out in the Elgin (Illinois) School District during the winter and spring of 1985. This evaluation gathered evidence concerning the validity of cloze-elide tests for criteria described in terms of 10 variables. The validity coefficients displayed in Table I showed that, for the ESL students, the cloze-elide measure: (1) is very strongly correlated with other cloze measures; (2) is well correlated with measures of writing and reading; (3) shows moderate to strong validity for listening and speaking; (4) displays strong correlations with a composite variable of language proficiency; (5) is substantially related to student self-ratings; (6) is substantially related to teacher appraisals of student's language skills; and (7) displays good validity for English language proficiency of native English speakers. (JAZ)