What People Are Saying About WIDA
"Excellent workshops for this year. We greatly appreciate the WIDA and W-APT training workshops being offered again in September [2007]. Both assessment tools are proving to be very valuable in our ongoing efforts to properly assess, diagnose and prescribe for our ELL students...
I had an opportunity to conduct a workshop on how to analyze the results of the WIDA assessment with Parkland's eleven ESL teachers. Their response to your reports reinforced my initial thoughts on the WIDA assessment and the W-APT screener. The teachers immediately saw diagnostic and prescriptive applications for the test results. In particular, we all were impressed by the parent report and how it is designed for a parent with limited English proficiency. I work with many different assessments as the Director of Assessment and Data Analysis for the Parkland School District. By far, WIDA has one of the most comprehensive, teacher-friendly and parent-friendly assessment tools I have worked with. ACCESS and the accompanying reports will truly impact how our ESL teachers work with individual students this coming school year. In the end, that should be the ultimate goal for using any assessment and WIDA does so in a highly effective manner. My compliments to you and your team on an outstanding evaluation tool."
-David A. Grim, Director of Assessment and Data Analysis
Parkland School District
Allentown, PA
"Just a short note of thanks as we close on our first year as a WIDA member [2006-07]. We have a year behind us and it went very well. What a difference from a year ago when things were in such an upheaval here in the state as far as our English language proficiency assessment!"
-Mari Rasmussen, ND Department of Public Instruction
“Thank you all very much for making the WIDA Annual meeting [June 25-27, 2007] such a success! The meeting was one of the best events that I have attended. I am thrilled that I was able to participate in this important initiative! All of you have been so accommodating and accessible. Please share my appreciation with everyone else who made this such a successful endeavor!”
-NJ Bilingual/ESL Education Specialist