ELD Standards Framework

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Set high expectations and ensure opportunity for multilingual learners

The WIDA English Language Development (ELD) Standards Framework provides a foundation for enriching curriculum, instruction and assessment for multilingual learners in kindergarten through grade 12. The ELD Standards Framework fosters the assets, contributions and potential of multilingual learners. The framework

  • Represents an evolution of our understanding – in both the theory and practice – about how multilingual learners engage with the curriculum, and how educators can work together to build on the assets of all learners
  • Closely aligns with academic content standards and disciplinary practices
  • Continues to break new ground to advance the field of language development in support of content learning for students who are culturally and linguistically diverse

Learn more about the four components of the framework (Standards Statements, Key Language Uses, Language Expectations and Proficiency Level Descriptors) below.

2020 Edition Key Resources

cover page of the 2020 edition book

Framework Components

The framework consists of four components, ranging from broad to narrow in scope:

  • WIDA ELD Standards Statements
  • Key Language Uses
  • Language Expectations
  • Proficiency Level Descriptors

These work together to make a comprehensive picture of language development.

This illustration represents the nested components of the WIDA ELD Standards Framework with Proficiency Level Descriptors at the center, Language Expectations around the descriptors, Key Language Uses around the expectations and WIDA ELD Standards Statements around everything.

The Four Components

string of flags with symbols representing the five standards

ELD Standards Statements

The ELD Standards Statements provide educators with a connection between language development and academic content area learning. Like a string of flags hanging in the classroom, the statements represent the broad and ever-present language of the disciplines.

Standard 1

Language for Social and Instructional Purposes
English language learners communicate for social and instructional purposes within the school setting.

Standard 2

Language for Language Arts
English language learners communicate information, ideas and concepts necessary for academic success in the content area of language arts.

Standard 3

Language for Mathematics
English language learners communicate information, ideas and concepts necessary for academic success in the content area of mathematics.

Standard 4

Language for Science
English language learners communicate information, ideas and concepts necessary for academic success in the content area of science.

Standard 5

Language for Social Studies
English language learners communicate information, ideas and concepts necessary for academic success in the content area of social studies.


Want to learn more? See pages 24-25 in the 2020 Edition.

illustration of two students with a variety of materials that represent paper airplanes

Key Language Uses

Four Key Language Uses represent prominent language uses across the disciplines: narrate, inform, explain, and argue. KLUs bring focus and coherence to the language of schooling, helping educators prioritize and organize curricular planning for content and language integration. KLUs represent the most prominent ways students use language as they investigate and explain phenomena, support claims with evidence, and share stories about their experiences.

Want to learn more? See pages 26-27 in the 2020 Edition.

Purchase the Key Language Uses poster sets from the WIDA Store.

map with three dotted line paths ending at a flag and a figure on each path

Language Expectations

Language Expectations – written for all grade-level clusters – point to common, visible ways students need to use language to meet grade-level academic content standards. They are like language destination points on a map that we want all students to reach. Educators can use them to set curricular priorities in order to support students in expanding what they can do with language.

Want to learn more? See pages 28-30 in the 2020 Edition.

a pot with three plants of increasing size labelled PL1 PL3 PL6 and tendrils connecting each plant

Proficiency Level Descriptors

PLDs describe typical ways multilingual learners might develop across six levels of English proficiency. They help us see how students are growing in their language development as they move toward meeting Language Expectations. However, language development is not a linear process – like garden vines reaching for the sun, students may take various paths to develop language.

Want to learn more? See pages 31-34 in the 2020 Edition.

This illustration represents how all of the components of the framework fit together in an educational setting. At the table where they are sitting, the students have access to: charts, a book and paper airplane that represent Key Language Uses; a map on the wall behind them that represents Language Expectations; a planter in the window with varying sized plants that represent Proficiency Level Descriptors; and a string of flags above the window that represent the five ELD Standards Statements.

Putting It All Together: Yes You Can!

The 2020 Edition provides teachers with ways to use these components in combination with resources in their school and community environments, to support multilingual learners’ linguistic growth in and beyond the classroom. Use the 2020 Edition as a resource to

  • Plan and implement language curriculum, instruction and assessment for multilingual learners.
  • Promote and guide systematic, explicit and sustained language development.
  • Support and frame collaboration among educators to plan for content and language integration in culturally and linguistically sustaining ways.
  • Monitor multilingual learners’ language growth.
  • Provide standards-referenced feedback to students and families.

Resources for Implementation

Implementation Guides

Professional Development

Other Supporting Resources

Foundations of the ELD Standards Framework

This document articulates the foundational belief that every learner brings valuable contributions to everything they do.
WIDA Can Do Philosophy
These principles exemplify WIDA’s overarching foundational beliefs and ever-present Can Do Philosophy – in 14 languages and an illustrated version.
Guiding Principles of Language Development
The theoretical foundations of the WIDA ELD Standards Framework can be found in Appendix F of the 2020 Edition.
2020 Edition Appendix F

Related Pages

Classroom videos of innovative instruction that promotes English language development and content learning

Standards in Action

WIDA supports you in understanding the strengths and needs of your multilingual learners.

Understanding Multilingual Learners

Learn more about the language students need to participate and succeed in the classroom.

Language for Learning

El Marco DALE has language development standards a nivel de expectativas para el desarrollo del lenguaje español del kínder al 12o grado

Marco DALE