News

The April 2020 edition of WIDA News includes a message from WIDA's Founder and Director, an interview with April's Featured Educator, an announcement about WIDA Secure Portal maintenance, downloadable WIDA resources, and more.

This month's featured educator, Angela Thoen, works with Grades 5-6 newcomers in Austin, Minnesota. She was selected because of her collaborative approach to newcomer education and the growth mindset she brings to her school.

Educational tools and resources for assessing a small but important group of students, multilingual learners challenged with the most significant cognitive disabilities, now will become reality thanks to a $3.998 million U.S. Department of Education grant.

Saasha Lambson wears several hats, as she is both a fourth-grade dual-language teacher and serves as the bilingual coordinator.

The October 2019 edition of WIDA News includes our Featured Educator, an announcement about Advancing ATELLA: Alternative ACCESS Redesign project, information about the WIDA School Improvement System, upcoming professional learning events and more.

"What WIDA provides, amongst many things, are tools to improve relationships between ELL staff and content staff by encouraging collaboration and a free exchange of ideas. It also provides tools for content teachers to deliver content instruction to our ELLs. It gives those teachers the confidence to work with our students and provide them with the strategies and the scaffolds they need to not only improve their English proficiency but also be successful students in areas like math, science, history."

– John Masella, ELL coordinator, Massachusetts
 

The July 2019 edition of WIDA News includes our Featured Educator, the release of the 2019 WIDA Guiding Principles of Language Development, professional learning opportunities, WIDA website and Secure Portal updates, and more!

Monica Cortada passionately serves language learners and their families in Maryland by helping to address both academic and social-emotional needs of her students.

The April 2019 edition of WIDA News includes our Featured Educator, information about our website feedback survey, information about registration dates for the WIDA Annual Conference, and upcoming WIDA Workshops.

The May 2020 edition of WIDA News includes updates on the WIDA COVID-19 webpage, an interview with May's Featured Educator, a call for WIDA Fellows nominations, an article with tips for virtual planning, and more.