Resources

Response to Instruction & Intervention (RtI�) for English Language Learners

WIDA's guide to RtI� presents a framework to assist educators in designing and implementing RtI� systems that proactively support the instruction, intervention, and assessment of ELLs. The document specifically addresses seven factors to consider during the solution-seeking process that help explain ELLs' educational experience. It also provides information on how educators can use WIDA tools and resources to better understand ELLs' academic language development, as this will serve as a context for collecting and interpreting the data they use to make instructional and programmatic decisions within an RtI� process.

Download Developing a Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Approach to Response to Instruction & Intervention (RtI�) for English Language Learners

For individuals who are thinking about how to introduce the information in the above document and engage a team of educators in the solution-seeking process, the planning form below may offer some guidance for group planning and discussions.

Download the Culturally and Linguistically Responsive RtI� Planning Form

RtI� for ELLs Webinar

Presented by: Cristina Sanchez-Lopez and Laurie Donnell, the lead developers of the WIDA RtI� for ELLs document

This interactive webinar presentation addresses considerations for the solution-seeking process to better understand ELLs' academic language development, as this will serve as a context for collecting and interpreting the data they use to make instructional and programmatic decisions within an RtI� process. Viewers will learn how WIDA tools and resources can be used within an RtI� framework through viewing real examples from school districts across the consortium.

View Webinar

Focus Bulletins

WIDA offers a series of bulletins on topics of interest to educators of English language learners.

The PDF documents below are archived versions of WIDA's Focus Bulletins, available on a variety of topics related to ELL instruction and assessment.

2013

Focus on Group Work for Content Learning (March)

Do your students have opportunities to engage in academic conversation? How might collaborative interactions help students meet the U.S. college- and career-readiness standards? How might they help English language learners (ELLs) master the language of the disciplines? What are some promising ways to support group-based learning in your classroom? This Focus Bulletin aims to answer these questions and offers an extensive resource list for further exploration of related strategies and research.

2012

Focus on Differentiation Part 2 (December)

Part 2 of this Bulletin discusses in more detail how the strategies and tools identified for teaching ELLs in Part 1 can be put into practice. Some of these ideas include the use of graphic organizers, the preview-view-review strategy, parental involvement, L1 support, and flexible groupings. Lastly, this Bulletin addresses how educators can fairly evaluate ELLs' performance in both content and language based on the learning objectives identified in Part 1.

Focus on Differentiation Part 1 (May)

This Bulletin provides a useful planning template and step-by-step explanations of how teachers (classroom/content-area, special education, literacy, ESL, bilingual) can differentiate their grade-level content and language instruction and assessment for the ELLs in their classes. Part I focuses on setting content objectives for all students along with differentiated language objectives for ELLs, and explores possible scaffolds and supports for different example students within the context of a particular unit on rainforests.

2009

Focus on Formative Assessment (September)

The September 2009 edition offers an overview of formative assessment of academic language. It discusses the importance of having a balanced assessment system in place for English language learners that goes beyond standardized testing. Educators are given examples of formative assessment tasks and tools, and introduced to how to use assessment feedback to guide language instruction.

Focus on Language and Culture (May)

This issue explores some variables that can affect the academic achievement of English language learners.� Our purpose in exploring these variables is to find areas where we can connect learning and language as we plan and deliver instruction and assessment to our students.� We start with two from a long list of variables: culture and home language, hoping to inspire you to learn more about them through the resources offered in this issue.

Focus on Growth (March)

This issue focuses on measurement of student progress using standardized test scores of English language proficiency. It provides an overview of different types of test scores on ACCESS for ELLs in particular and explains how districts can compare their students' and district's scores to researched patterns of average growth. Graphs of growth at each grade level are included, along with space for teachers and administrators to work on a plan to address the need for continued progress.

Powerpoint presentation on Growth (for use with newsletter as a handout)

Powerpoint handout (3 slides per page with space for notes)

Annual Report

Download our Annual report for July 2010-December 2011

Higher Education Package for Instructors of Pre-Service ESL Teachers

WIDA currently offers a CD-ROM which contains the following:

Sample ACCESS for ELLs assessment items (K-12)
Kindergarten Test Administration Manual
Grades 1-12 Test Administration Manual
2 Power Point presentations used by our professional development staff to train educators about WIDA and ACCESS for ELLs test administration

To order this CD-ROM, please send an email to help@wida.us which includes your name, the name of your institution of higher education, and your shipping address and phone number.