ELD Standards Framework

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Set high expectations and ensure equity of opportunity for multilingual learners

The WIDA English Language Development (ELD) Standards Framework provides a foundation for enriching curriculum, instruction and assessment for multilingual learners in kindergarten through grade 12. The ELD Standards Framework is centered on equity and fosters the assets, contributions and potential of multilingual learners. The framework

  • Represents an evolution of our understanding – in both the theory and practice – about how multilingual learners engage with the curriculum, and how educators can work together to build on the assets of all learners
  • Closely aligns with academic content standards and disciplinary practices
  • Continues to break new ground to advance the field of language development in support of content learning for students who are culturally and linguistically diverse

Learn more about the Big Ideas and four components of the framework (Standards Statements, Key Language Uses, Language Expectations and Proficiency Level Descriptors) below.

2020 Edition Key Resources

Big Ideas

Four Big Ideas anchor the standards and are interwoven throughout the framework:

  • Equity of opportunity and access
    • This is essential for multilingual learners' preparation for college, career and civic lives.
  • Integration of content and language
    • Academic content is the context for language learning, and language is the means for learning academic content.
  • Collaboration among stakeholders
    • Stakeholders share responsibility for educating multilingual learners.
  • Functional approach to language development
    • This approach helps educators focus on the purposeful use of language.

These Big Ideas support the design of standards-based educational experiences that are student-centered, culturally and linguistically sustaining, and responsive to multilingual learners' strengths and needs.

To explore more about the Big Ideas, see pages 17-20 of the 2020 Edition.

Framework Components

The framework consists of four components, ranging from broad to narrow in scope:

  • WIDA ELD Standards Statements
  • Key Language Uses
  • Language Expectations
  • Proficiency Level Descriptors

These work together to make a comprehensive picture of language development.

four concentric rectangles with the four components of the framework nested within

The four nested components of the WIDA ELD Standards Framework

The Four Components

string of flags with symbols representing the five standards

ELD Standards Statements

The ELD Standards Statements provide educators with a connection between language development and academic content area learning. Like a string of flags hanging in the classroom, the statements represent the broad and ever-present language of the disciplines.

Standard 1

Language for Social and Instructional Purposes
English language learners communicate for social and instructional purposes within the school setting.

Standard 2

Language for Language Arts
English language learners communicate information, ideas and concepts necessary for academic success in the content area of language arts.

Standard 3

Language for Mathematics
English language learners communicate information, ideas and concepts necessary for academic success in the content area of mathematics.

Standard 4

Language for Science
English language learners communicate information, ideas and concepts necessary for academic success in the content area of science.

Standard 5

Language for Social Studies
English language learners communicate information, ideas and concepts necessary for academic success in the content area of social studies.


Want to learn more? See pages 24-25 in the 2020 Edition.

illustration of two students with a variety of materials that represent paper airplanes

Key Language Uses

Four Key Language Uses represent prominent language uses across the disciplines: narrate, inform, explain, and argue. KLUs bring focus and coherence to the language of schooling, helping educators prioritize and organize curricular planning for content and language integration. KLUs represent the most prominent ways students use language as they investigate and explain phenomena, support claims with evidence, and share stories about their experiences.

Want to learn more? See pages 26-27 in the 2020 Edition.

Purchase the Key Language Uses poster sets from the WIDA Store.

map with three dotted line paths ending at a flag and a figure on each path

Language Expectations

Language Expectations – written for all grade-level clusters – point to common, visible ways students need to use language to meet grade-level academic content standards. They are like language destination points on a map that we want all students to reach. Educators can use them to set curricular priorities in order to support students in expanding what they can do with language.

Want to learn more? See pages 28-30 in the 2020 Edition.

a pot with three plants of increasing size labelled PL1 PL3 PL6 and tendrils connecting each plant

Proficiency Level Descriptors

PLDs describe typical ways multilingual learners might develop across six levels of English proficiency. They help us see how students are growing in their language development as they move toward meeting Language Expectations. However, language development is not a linear process – like garden vines reaching for the sun, students may take various paths to develop language.

Want to learn more? See pages 31-34 in the 2020 Edition.

two students with a paper airplane, book, chart, treasure map, plants and flags

Putting It All Together: Yes You Can!

The 2020 Edition provides teachers with ways to use these components in combination with resources in their school and community environments, to support multilingual learners’ linguistic growth in and beyond the classroom. Use the 2020 Edition as a resource to

  • Plan and implement language curriculum, instruction and assessment for multilingual learners.
  • Promote and guide systematic, explicit and sustained language development.
  • Support and frame collaboration among educators to plan for content and language integration in culturally and linguistically sustaining ways.
  • Monitor multilingual learners’ language growth.
  • Provide standards-referenced feedback to students and families.

Resources for Implementation

Implementation Guides

Professional Development

Other Supporting Resources

Foundations of the ELD Standards Framework

This document articulates the foundational belief that every learner brings valuable contributions to everything they do.
WIDA Can Do Philosophy
These principles exemplify WIDA’s overarching foundational beliefs and ever-present Can Do Philosophy – in 14 languages and an illustrated version.
Guiding Principles of Language Development
The theoretical foundations of the WIDA ELD Standards Framework can be found in Appendix F of the 2020 Edition.
2020 Edition Appendix F

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El Marco DALE has language development standards a nivel de expectativas para el desarrollo del lenguaje español del kínder al 12o grado

Marco DALE