High stakes assessment involves testing students for purposes such as grade level retention or advancement, high school graduation, selection for special programs or services, or for other "high stakes" consequences. Issues surrounding the high stakes assessment of English language learners (ELLs) were the focus of an August 1997 invitational symposium sponsored by the Office of Bilingual Education and Minority Languages Affairs (Department of Education), whose proceedings are summarized here. The report addresses three central questions, describes the symposium discussion on each, and presents research recommendations arising from the discussion. The questions include: at what point does testing a child in a second language yield meaningful results?; What accommodations are appropriate for testing ELLs?; and What is the role native language assessment plays in high stakes testing? A list of participants is appended. (MSE)