WIDA Alternate Screener Is Coming in 2025-26

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WIDA Alternate Screener is a brand-new, pencil-and-paper English language proficiency assessment individually administered to new students with the most significant cognitive disabilities in grades K–12. It helps educators identify if students are English learners. WIDA Alternate Screener will be available July 1, 2025. At that time, WIDA Consortium members can download test materials at no cost from the WIDA Secure Portal.

WIDA Alternate Screener assesses each of the four language domains (Listening, Speaking, Reading, Writing) and is anchored in the WIDA ELD Standards Framework, 2020 Edition.

Important! Refer to your member/state page for information on when and how to use WIDA Alternate Screener in your state.

WIDA Alternate Screener Features
  • Can be administered at any time during the school year
  • Local, trained raters administer and score the test
  • Takes no more than 30 minutes total testing time (testing times will vary based upon student needs)
  • Online score calculator will generate score reports that give proficiency level scores for each language domain and for four composite scores: Oral Language, Literacy, Comprehension and Overall
WIDA Alternate Screener Materials
  • Test administrator training course
  • WIDA Alternate Screener Test Administrator Manual
  • WIDA Alternate Screener Listening, Reading, Speaking, and Writing Test Booklet(grade clusters K-2, 3-5 and 6-12)
  • WIDA Alternate Screener Test Administrator Script (grade clusters K-2, 3-5 and 6-12)
  • WIDA Alternate Student Response Booklet
  • Score report guidance in the WIDA Screener Interpretive Guide for Score Reports

When it’s released, you can download and print test materials in the WIDA Secure Portal.

Project Timeline (in reverse order)

2025

July 1

  • WIDA Alternate Screener is available to the WIDA Consortium!
  • Test administrators can enroll in the brand-new WIDA Alternate Screener training course
  • Educators can download WIDA Alternate Screener test materials from the WIDA Secure Portal and print them locally
  • Test administrators can use the new online score calculator and print score reports

April-June

WIDA finalizes WIDA Alternate Screener materials.

January-April

WIDA analyzes the validation study data.

2024

October-November

Select sites participate in the WIDA Alternate Screener Validation Study.

September

Recruitment closes for the WIDA Alternate Screener Validation Study.

August

Recruitment opens for the WIDA Alternate Screener Validation Study.

Alternate ACCESS proficiency level cut scores set at the standard setting study event are approved. This information supports the creation of WIDA Alternate Screener scoring tables.

July

WIDA Alternate ACCESS Standard Setting Study event takes place.