Resources/Recursos

Use this ALTELLA Research Brief to plan and prepare for IEP meetings for multilingual learners with significant cognitive disabilities. The brief highlights key elements to consider, including the importance of the student’s home language and the need to build cultural responsiveness among all educators.

Released September 2025

This ALTELLA Research Brief explains the Language and Disability Needs Framework. The brief focuses on considerations of students’ language-related and disability-related needs and their implications for instruction and assessment.

Released September 2025

Use this ALTELLA Research Brief to distinguish between language and communication. The brief covers how multilingual learners with significant cognitive disabilities use both language and communication.

Released September 2025

This Individual Characteristics Questionnaire was developed in 2018 by the ALTELLA project. Anyone can use the ALTELLA Individual Characteristics Questionnaire (fillable PDF) to collect characteristic information on a multilingual learner with a disability.

Note: A slightly different Individual Characteristics Questionnaire is part of the WIDA Alternate ACCESS test materials.

Released September 2025

Administrators can use this ALTELLA protocol (fillable PDF) to learn more about the instructional strategies teachers are using with the multilingual learners with disabilities in their classrooms.

Released September 2025

Administrators can use this ALTELLA protocol (fillable PDF) to learn more about the instructional strategies teachers are using with the multilingual learners with disabilities in their classrooms.

Released September 2025

Use this ALTELLA Research Brief as a step-by-step guide on how to best serve multilingual learners with significant cognitive disabilities more effectively.

Released September 2025

This ALTELLA report examines pilot findings from the ALTELLA Individual Characteristics Questionnaire, which surveyed educators about their students. The report explores survey information that may be useful to states in developing accountability policies, alternate academic achievement standards, and other state policies and guidance materials.

Released August 2025

This ALTELLA report highlights findings from 88 classroom observations and 94 follow-up interviews with educators of these classes. These findings shed light on the classroom practices used to support the English language development of students who are dually identified as English learners and students with significant cognitive disabilities.

Released August 2025

Use this handout in intake centers or at parent-teacher conferences to help explain what WIDA Alternate Screener is and the process of screening students with the most significant cognitive disabilities and identifying them as English learners. This family handout, available in multiple languages, includes a section for families to take notes and ask questions about English language services.

Released June 2025

The Tell Us About Your Child Survey is a questionnaire that educators can give to families or caregivers of multilingual learners with the most significant cognitive disabilities to better understand a student's language and communication needs. In the survey, families or caregivers will answer questions about a student’s method of communication and language, their ability to understand communication and their preferred communication supports.

Released May 2025

This article offers considerations for various interest holders who serve multilingual learners with disabilities and advocates for the co-creation of digital resources by students, educators, and developers to ensure they meet real-world accessibility challenges. Advancements in artificial intelligence are considered as well.

Released May 2025

The Alternate Can Do Descriptors (Alt Can Dos) are the first-ever Can Do Descriptors for multilingual learners with the most significant cognitive disabilities. The Alt Can Dos exemplify what students can do with communication and language at various stages of English language development.

The Alt Can Dos are arranged into the same grade-level clusters (K–2, 3–5, 6–8 and 9–12) as WIDA Alternate ACCESS. Within each grade-level cluster, the Alt Can Dos are organized by interpretive (listening and reading) and expressive (speaking and writing) communication modes for each WIDA ELD Standard and the five levels of English language development.

Released October 2024

This report delves into the critical role of learner models in educational assessment and includes a systematic review of recent literature on artificial intelligence (AI) and K–12 education. The review brings to light gaps and opportunities in current practices and serves as a foundation for the Fair AI Framework.

Released January 2024

This report describe how WIDA applied Differential Item Functioning analysis among multiple disability groups of our Alternate ACCESS Field Test items in 2023.

Released December 2023

This Focus Bulletin offers expert advice, data on 2020-21 identification rates, data templates, common scenarios and resources for school teams identifying K-12 multilingual learners for Specific Learning Disabilities.

Originally published May 2017/Updated November 2023
Author: Lynn Shafer Willner

Released December 2023

The Alternate Proficiency Level Descriptors (Alternate PLDs) are an extension of the PLDs found in the WIDA English Language Development (ELD) Standards, 2020 Edition, and describe the continuum of language development for ELs with the most significant cognitive disabilities. The Alternate PLDs are organized into five levels of English language proficiency for two communication modes: interpretive and expressive. Refer to the Glossary and Text Examples section for definitions of terms and examples of student responses. WIDA, with the help of classroom educators, created these proficiency levels to be unique to WIDA Alternate ACCESS.

Released August 2023

This study examined the extent English learners (ELs) in grades 1-12 with and without disabilities activated universal tools during an online English language proficiency assessment. Findings show that ELs activated the Line Guide, Highlighter and Magnifier more frequently than others. A significantly higher percentage of ELs with disabilities activated the tools than ELs without disabilities, but effect sizes were small.

Released January 2023

This study describes long-term trends in students’ academic performance, documenting persistent and systematic disparities in academic outcomes across several student subgroups. Results corroborate emerging evidence from the field that English learner students, students with disabilities, and especially students who are learning English with a disability, are being consistently underserved by the U.S. educational system.

Released January 2022

This technical report aids WIDA Consortium members and stakeholders in producing imputed overall composite scale scores and proficiency levels for students who are missing scores in one or two domains due to a disability. 

Published September 2020 
Author: Narek Sahakyan

Released September 2020