News

Are you new to WIDA Screener for Kindergarten? Have you administered the test before but can’t remember where to find things like training and test materials? Use this brief reference to all things WIDA Screener for Kindergarten so that you are ready to welcome your young multilingual learners.

In honor of national bi/multilingual learner advocacy month, Tim Boals, WIDA founder and director, reflects on what multilingualism means to him.

Meet… Reggie Williams! Reggie is an English to Speakers of Other Languages teacher at Clarkston High School in Clarkston, Georgia. Read this edition of Featured Educator to learn about Reggie’s go-to resources, his classroom ethos and his thoughts on which decade had the best music!

The WIDA Illustrated Guiding Principles of Language Development – a colorful booklet of 10 principles that exemplify the WIDA Can Do Philosophy – are now available in 13 additional languages, for a total of 14 languages.

In this edition of Conversations with Tim, Tim talks to Dean Diana Hess and Lynn Glueck about the Discussion Project. The Discussion Project is a professional development program designed to help educators create welcoming, engaging and academically rigorous classroom environments in which students experience productive classroom discussions on important issues and topics.

Listening option: Listen to the audio here or click “Read more” to continue reading.

In this article, Mariana Castro, deputy director for the Wisconsin Center for Education Research, examines recent research on the process of identifying English learners (ELs). After looking at the data, Mariana suggests that we take a more holistic, dynamic approach when it comes to identifying ELs. Read the article to learn about Mariana’s proposed system, which she says could offer a richer portrayal of bi/multilingual students and their linguistic and academic assets.

En este artículo, Mariana Castro, subdirectora del Centro de Investigación Educativa de Wisconsin (WCER, por sus siglas en inglés), examina investigaciones recientes sobre el proceso de identificación de los aprendices de inglés (EL, por sus siglas en inglés). Después de repasar las necesidades, Mariana sugiere que adoptemos un enfoque más holístico y dinámico cuando se trata de identificar a los EL. Lea el artículo para obtener más información sobre el sistema propuesto por Mariana, que, según ella, podría ofrecer una representación de los estudiantes bi/multilingües enriquesida por sus recursos lingüísticos y académicos.

This article features information about a website with multiple resources to support bi/multilingual educators in Wisconsin and presents a template for similar webpages in other states.

Este artículo presenta una página web con varios recursos para los educadores de estudiantes bi/multilingües en Wisconsin, la cual sirve como ejemplo para otros estados.

This article by Esther Bettney, a member of the WIDA International Programs team, explores how the Marco ALE can unify bilingual schools’ Spanish and English language programs and promote students’ bilingualism.