Resources/Recursos

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

Implementing the WIDA ELD Standards Framework takes time and looks different across different contexts. While some educators are working with different grade-level content curricula, English language specialists may be working with language curricula focusing on a range of proficiency levels. When instructing multilingual learners, it is especially important that curricula strike a balance between content and language. Although it is tempting to start at the lesson level to begin implementation since it feels more manageable to start small, starting at the curricular level is more effective at building a yearlong, cohesive learning experience that builds on current knowledge and experiences and more intentionally towards new understandings and skills. This Focus Bulletin supports educators to take a genre-based approach to making decisions throughout all units of curricula that can both begin and deepen the alignment of the current academic curricula being used to the WIDA ELD Standards Framework.

Released May 2025

This version of the report is for families and provides information about a student’s scores on the Alternate ACCESS English language proficiency test. The report contains the critical information families need to know and can be sent home with students and/or discussed at conferences with parents/guardians.

Released February 2025

Send this flyer home with students along with the Alternate ACCESS Individual Student Report for Families. This flyer explains each piece of score information included in the report for families. Use this guide, available in multiple languages, to help parents/guardians understand what scores mean and how they are used.

Released August 2024

PreK-3 educators can use this tool when planning to connect with families about their communities, family assets and interests.

Released July 2024

This Focus Bulletin centers on P.H. Miller School/Plano Early Learning to show how educators, families and community members collaborate to promote equitable transitions for multilingual children in grades PreK-3. It provides reflections and advice from educators.

Released July 2024

As teachers, staff and administrators in school buildings, district offices and educational agencies across the country, we play a critical role in responding to the individual needs of students in our teaching and learning settings. Trauma can be experienced by any student, but for those who are also learning English as an additional language or who are adjusting to a new culture, these experiences add another dimension of care to be addressed by educators. Through this focus bulletin, readers will be introduced to a research based guide for working with multilingual learners who may benefit from trauma informed practices, including discussions on special populations, the sharing of empowering and engaging strategies, a raising of awareness about prompting adverse behaviors, and building rapport across whole school, student and family networks.

Released May 2024

The aim of this interpretive guide is to help educators and families better understand the scores reported for WIDA Screener Online, WIDA Screener Paper, and WIDA Screener for Kindergarten.

Released April 2024

Interaction is of great importance in classrooms, where bi/multilingual students exchange ideas and contribute to a community of learners as they continue to expand their linguistic repertoire. That is why interaction is one of the six Big Ideas of the Marco DALE. In this Focus Bulletin, we explore interaction and its connection to multiliteracies and the Marco DALE modes of communication and Language Expectations. 

Published 2024
Authors: Analleli Hernández, Margo Gottlieb

Vea y descargue en español.

Released March 2024

Across the country, educators are working to improve students' reading, but many of the programs and approaches in use were not designed to take into account the unique needs and assets of multilingual learners. This Focus Bulletin shares classroom-ready resources, as well as examples and video from classrooms where educators are working to expand reading instruction to make it more inclusive and more effective for multilingual students.

Released February 2024

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

This handout, available in multiple languages, is a resource that educators can send home with students to give families an introduction to WIDA Alternate ACCESS. The handout explains what WIDA Alternate ACCESS is and why students take this kind of assessment.

Released October 2023

This WIDA Focus Bulletin explores educators’ and students’ perceptions of the accessibility tools available to all students when taking an online WIDA assessment. The bulletin emphasizes the ways in which the universal tools can support the test-taking experience for multilingual learners.

Published October 2023 
Authors: Jason A. Kemp, Ahyoung Alicia Kim

Released October 2023

​When educators think of language instruction in science, the traditional practice of pre-teaching vocabulary comes to mind. This Focus Bulletin builds on new research and offers resources for embedding vocabulary instruction into students’ participation in the science and engineering practices.

Released August 2023

The Are We Ready? Educators Collaboration Guide is for PreK-3 educators to use for reflection and planning connected to promoting and providing equitable transitions for multilingual children and their families. Use the Are We Ready? Educators Notetaker to write down your own ideas and transition plans.

See the Teaching in PreK-3 page for context.

Released August 2023

The Are We Ready? Schools and Programs Collaboration Guide is for PreK-3 school and program leaders to use for reflection and planning connected to leading equitable transitions for multilingual children and their families. Use the Are We Ready? Schools and Programs Notetaker to write down your own ideas and transition plans.

See the Teaching in PreK-3 page for context.

Released August 2023

This list has recommended readings and references for PreK-3 educators and leaders to use to explore equitable language-focused transitions for multilingual children and their families.

See the Teaching in PreK-3 page for context.

Released August 2023

The Are We Ready? Districts and Programs Collaboration Guide is for PreK-3 district and program leaders to use for reflection and planning connected to leading equitable transitions for multilingual children and their families. Use the Are We Ready? Districts and Programs Notetaker to write down your own ideas and transition plans.

See the Teaching in PreK-3 page for context.

Released August 2023

This Focus Bulletin explores the process of evaluating student writing, and examines how educators can consistently evaluate the written language of multilingual learners. It provides strategies for educators to support evaluations that generate focused and helpful feedback for students.

Released June 2023

This guide provides a set of actions PreK-3 educators, administrators and staff can take to support a language-focused approach to family and community engagement, and teaching and learning practices.

Released June 2023