Distance Teaching and Learning

• Communicating with ELL Families During COVID-19: 10 Strategies for Schools by Colorín Colorado offers multiple tools, resources and tips for collaboration with families.
• In the WIDA eSummit panel discussion Teaching Multilingual Learners During Extraordinary Times: WIDA Fellows’ Success Stories, ten WIDA educators share their challenges and successes of teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic. All eSummit webinar recordings, including this panel discussion, are available to domestic WIDA Consortium members in the WIDA Secure Portal (password required).
• Voices from the Field, a WIDA International Newsletter series co-authored with global educators, features an asset-based collection of high leverage practices for teaching multilingual learners online:
  • Build social-emotional support and maintain community
  • Engage all teachers to serve all students
  • Encourage translanguaging

• Five Things We Can Do to Support Multilingual Students Online,” co-authored by Esther Bettney of the WIDA International School Consortium, offers an asset-based collection of high leverage practices for teaching multilingual learners online.
• The WIDA Focus Bulletin Educación en el mundo actual: Equity in bilingual settings offers strategies for advancing equity in bilingual settings during the mundo actual of COVID-19. The importance of valuing multilingual learners’ linguistic and cultural diversity, using translanguaging, and leveraging technological resources are emphasized. This Focus Bulletin is available in Spanish.

• The blog post, "Reflecting and Relearning our Craft: Supporting Multilingual Learners Online," co-authored by Esther Bettney of the WIDA International School Consortium, offers strategies to effectively support multilingual students while learning remotely.

• WIDA Español provides tips and resources for administrators and teachers to help coordinate communication and instruction with students and families this school year. Read "This school year, communication with students and families is crucial" in English or Spanish.

• Samuel Aguirre, director of WIDA Español, answers questions about English learners and distance learning.

• The WIDA Focus Bulletin Collaboration: Working Together to Serve Multilingual Learners, co-authored by WIDA International Programs Director Jon Nordmeyer and Andrea Honigsfeld of Molloy College, emphasizes the many benefits of collaboration as well as how WIDA resources can be used to support teachers working together. This publication also addresses teaching and learning from home and the virtual collaboration cycle.
• As educators begin to plan lessons and unpack these last few months in preparation for the 2020-2021 school year, WIDA Español experts say that taking into account students’ home and community experiences and linguistic diversity is key. Read the article in English and Spanish.
• WIDA accommodations and accessibility experts share tips and information that aim to help multilingual students with disabilities find success in the virtual classroom.
• To help educators promote the importance of home language with the students and families they serve, WIDA has developed a visual resource in English, Spanish, Arabic and Simplified Chinese.
• To support families with young children at home, WIDA Early Years is happy to share free, downloadable activity booklets, in English, Spanish, Arabic and Simplified Chinese that are appropriate for young children ages 2-7 years.

• WIDA Wallpaper for your computer, tablet or smartphone is available for download from the WIDA Resource Library in English or Spanish to brighten the virtual teaching and learning environment.

• The WIDA Focus Bulletin, Technology in the Classroom provides educators with support as they think critically about the ways different sorts of media and tech tools can help facilitate language development in their contexts.

Director of WIDA Early Years Lorena Mancilla provides parents and guardians with guidance on working at home with a young child in the following articles:

• Working At Home With A Toddler Will Be Chaotic. Here Are Some Tips To Help
• Tips for families working and learning from home

• The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) Restart & Recovery: Access and Equity for English Learner Students and Families During COVID-19: Recommendations for State Leaders offers a set of recommendations to develop and refine statewide COVID-related guidance to prioritize access and equity for EL students and families. Recommendations include partnering with EL families, promoting continuity of language and content instruction across instructional models, and supporting EL-focused professional learning opportunities.
• The Migration Policy Institute offers policy ideas for states and school districts for “Educating English Learners during the COVID-19 Pandemic.” This policy brief includes a summary of COVID-19's impact on English Learners and immigrant students, identifies key challenges states and school districts must overcome, and outlines policy recommendations to help ensure students are adequately supported. 
• The CCSSO has put together a series of supports for states and school systems called "Restart and Recovery: Considerations for Teaching and Learning." Resource topics include system conditions, wellbeing and connection, academics, and state policies and action.
• The Office of Educational Technology has a relevant toolkit for teachers and administrators called "Using Educational Technology — 21st Century Supports for English Learners."
• Statewide Summative Assessment in Spring 2021: A Workbook to Support Planning and Decision-Making draws from a series of webinars, blog posts and papers dealing with anticipated challenges for statewide summative assessments in the Spring of 2021. These resources have been sponsored and produced by a variety of organizations, including the CCSSO, the Center for Assessment, and webinar panelists and participants from many other organizations. 
• Supporting English Learners in the COVID-19 Crisis is a guide developed by the Council of the Great City Schools to help districts during the 2020-21 school year. This guide specifically addresses issues facing the families of English learners. 

• Get tips for safer testing and find out what’s new with WIDA assessments.
• WIDA has created a resource, Assessment Best Practices During COVID-19, to support test coordinators and test administrators administering ACCESS for ELLs (Alternate, Kindergarten, Online and Paper). This resource can be accessed in the WIDA Secure Portal (valid account required).