The WIDA English Language Development (ELD) Standards Framework, 2020 Edition: Kindergarten – Grade 12 is a document that provides a foundation for 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 2020 Edition serves as a resource for planning and implementing language instruction and assessment for multilingual learners as they learn academic content.
Grade level cluster-specific versions of the 2020 Edition are also available.
Resource Details View Download NowReleased February 2021
The WIDA ELD Standards Framework, 2020 Edition brings new practical ways for all educators working with multilingual learners to conceptualize the development of content and language together through asset-based, equitable, and rigorous approaches in curricular design. This session will encourage participants to think about what collaboration looks like in these contexts.
Resource DetailsReleased February 2021
One of the components of the WIDA ELD Standards Framework is the Key Language Uses (KLUs). The KLUs summarize the most prominent language uses across disciplines, helping educators organize and prioritize curriculum and instruction. Learn about the updated KLUs – Inform, Narrate, Explain and Argue.
Resource DetailsReleased February 2021
Members of the WIDA standards development team share a high-level overview of what’s new and exciting in the WIDA English Language Development Standards Framework, 2020 Edition. Intended for SEA representatives, district leaders, and EL and content teachers.
Resource DetailsReleased January 2021
This video provides an introductory overview of the WIDA English Language Development Standards, 2020 Edition. It briefly highlights how the 2020 Edition is centered on equity and fosters the assets, contributions, and potential of multilingual learners.
Resource DetailsReleased December 2020
This Focus Bulletin offers strategies for advancing equity in bilingual settings during the mundo actual of COVID-19. The bulletin emphasizes the importance of valuing multilingual learners’ linguistic and cultural diversity, using translanguaging, and leveraging technological resources.
Published August 2020
Authors: Sam Aguirre, Erika Rosales
Released August 2020
WIDA intends to fully retire the WIDA English Language Development Standards and Resource Guide, International Edition: Kindergarten-Grade 12. However, we recognize that schools have different timelines for implementation of the updated WIDA ELD Standards Framework, 2020 Edition. With that in mind, the earlier International Edition will remain in the Resource Library so that schools that are still using it may access it as needed.
The international edition of the 2012 Amplification of the WIDA English Language Development Standards was developed in response to growing interest from educators outside the U.S. for standards and assessments that can support and document the development of academic English among their students.
The 2012 ELD Standards Framework represented the social, instructional and academic language that students need to engage with peers, educators, and the curriculum in schools and included examples of how language is processed or produced within a particular context through Model Performance Indicators (MPIs). MPIs were meant to be examples and not fixed guidelines of the language with which students may engage during instruction and assessment.
Resource Details View Download NowReleased August 2017
The 2012 Amplification of the WIDA English Language Development Standards, Kindergarten-Grade 12, represented the social, instructional, and academic language students might need to engage with peers, educators, and the curriculum in schools. The 2012 Amplification included examples of how language could be processed or produced within a particular context through Model Performance Indicators (MPIs). MPIs were meant to be examples and not fixed guidelines of the language with which students may have engaged during instruction and assessment.
WIDA intends to fully retire the 2012 Amplification of the WIDA English Language Development Standards, Kindergarten-Grade 12. However, we recognize that all member SEAs have different timelines for implementation of the WIDA ELD Standards Framework, 2020 Edition. With that in mind, the 2012 Amplification will remain in the Resource Library so that educators whose SEAs are still using it may access it as needed.
Resource Details View Download NowReleased March 2017
This document contains the performance definitions for the expressive domains of speaking and writing.
Resource Details View Download NowReleased November 2016
This document contains the performance definitions for the receptive domains of listening and reading.
Resource Details View Download NowReleased November 2016
The WIDA Spanish Language Development (SLD) Standards, Kindergarten – Grade 12, 2013 Edition is a resource for planning and implementing language instruction and assessment for emergent bilinguals who are learning academic content in Spanish. This publication will also offer information on where the WIDA SLD Standards fit within the larger WIDA system for instruction and assessment and how to use the SLD standards to have a broader understanding of the linguistic profile of students.
Resource Details View Download NowReleased May 2014
This document articulates the theoretical foundations for the 2012 Amplification of the WIDA English Language Development Standards, Kindergarten-Grade 12. The 2012 Amplification and its theoretical foundations are in the process of being retired. For the most up-to-date information, please see Appendix F: Theoretical Foundations in the WIDA ELD Standards Framework, 2020 Edition.
The 2012 Amplification of the WIDA ELD Standards drew on multiple theories and approaches in an effort to describe language use in academic contexts, as this is the language students must acquire and negotiate to participate successfully in school. These multiple theories and approaches formed a theoretical foundation that supported the 2012 WIDA ELD standards framework. This document articulates that theoretical foundation.
Resource Details View Download NowReleased March 2014
The purpose of this WIDA Focus Bulletin is to provide guidance to teachers of English language arts (ELA) who are implementing the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and working to respond to the specific needs of ELLs. In their treatment of academic language (or the language of school), the CCSS represent a departure from existing content standards.
Published November 2013
Authors: Daniella Molle, Mariana Castro, Julia Cortada, Leslie Grimm
Released November 2013
This study examined the ways in which educators across the WIDA Consortium use WIDA’s English language proficiency standards, and in particular the model performance indicators (MPIs).
Published May 2013
Author: Daniella Molle
Released May 2013
This report addresses three primary questions:
1. How do you determine a meaningful English language performance standard?
2. How do you establish a realistic, empirically anchored time frame for attaining a given ELP performance standard?
3. How can states take into account English learners’ English language performance level when setting academic progress and proficiency expectations?
Published May 2013
Resource Details View Download NowReleased May 2013
The 2007 ELP Standards for grades 6-12 reflected the social and academic dimensions of acquiring a second language that were expected of ELLs in grades 6-12 attending schools in the United States. Each ELP standard addressed a specific context for English language development.
Resource Details View Download NowReleased July 2009
The 2007 ELP Standards for grades PreK-5 reflected the social and academic dimensions of acquiring a second language that were expected of ELLs in grades PreK-5 attending schools in the United States. Each ELP standard addressed a specific context for English language development.
Resource Details View Download NowReleased July 2009