[1] In addition to its consortium member state partners, the WIDA project partners with the Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL) in Washington, D.C., and MetriTech, Inc. of Champaign, IL, and most recently, Data Recognition Corporation (DRC), Maple Grove, MN.
The WIDA Consortium administrative office is located in the Wisconsin Center for Education Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison The language standards used by WIDA consortium member state department of education are referred to as the English Language Development (ELD) Standards Framework.
[2] The WIDA Screener[3] assessments are used as a screening test to determine the language level of students entering a school system.
These results are used most frequently to determine if a student is eligible for services as an English language learner.
This test has been administered annually in WIDA member states beginning in the 2005–06 academic year.
These accommodations are not intended to change what the test measures but allow students with disabilities to participate in an appropriate manner.
The WIDA Screener is an assessment given to incoming students to determine if they are English Language Learners (ELLs).
The purpose of the test is for educators to determine if students would benefit from ELL programs that schools have to offer.
WIDA Alternate ACCESS[13] is an annual test for K-12 students identified as ELLs who also have a significant cognitive disability.
Washington State WAESOL Educator Journal - Using proficiency level descriptors to plan instruction and assess multilingual learners.