Ellevation + WIDA 2020

The 2020 English Language Development Standards Framework embraces an asset-based focus. We know that the new guidelines will be integrated into instruction - and, eventually, into assessments. Ellevation team members have been collaborating closely with the team at WIDA to ensure we are aligned to help you every step of the way.

The great news is: Whether you are an Ellevation Education partner already, or considering becoming one, our platform, professional learning and instructional offerings already address and support many of the 2020 WIDA Framework’s Big Ideas and Key Language Uses.

WIDA Big Ideas	Key Highlights from Ellevation Platform	Key Highlights from Ellevation Math and Strategies
Equity of Opportunity and Access	Dynamic data views help spotlight performance trends and prioritize areas for celebration or improvement among your multilingual learners Monitoring and meeting tools provide clear visibility in serving multilingual learners and engaging all educators in the work Student Goals allow educators to formatively assess and track student progress toward english language proficiency. Centralized documentation captures results in one place, empowering all educators with data to ensure equity and access	Both Programs provide learning experiences that are: Asset-based, honoring home language and culture Cognitively rigorous with content tied to grade-level standards Differentiated with appropriate supports for levels one through six
Integration of Content and Language	Combined content and language assessment data provides a holistic picture of student progress and achievement Monitoring and meeting tools engage content-area teachers in supporting both language and content outcomes	Ellevation Math: uniquely designed direct-to-student math language learning program with teacher resources. Created to break through academic vocabulary barriers and set multilingual students up for success in the math classroom Ellevation Strategies: built to provide teachers with essential tools to support the success of multilingual learners across a range of content areas and proficiency levels
Collaboration among Stakeholders	Dynamic dashboard views help your EL team communicate critical instructional information to principals and teachers so that everyone is on the same page Student Goals allow educators to formatively assess and track student progress toward english language proficiency. Customizable monitoring and meeting tools and configurable Parent Letters in 40 languages make collaboration more efficient, data-informed, and documented	Ellevation Math: reports provide separate data on math, vocabulary, writing, and confidence to equip math teachers and language specialists in their collaboration Ellevation Strategies: provides key professional development and collaboration within and across school buildings and districts
Functional Approach to Language Development	As the specific details are defined for how Key Language Uses, Language Expectations, and Proficiency Level Descriptors impact teaching and learning, Ellevation will be updating its products to support these transitions

Key Language Uses

WIDA identified four Key Language Uses—Narrate, Inform, Explain, and Argue—that appear across all content areas and that teachers can use to prioritize and organize the integration of content and language. Starting in August, all Ellevation Math Primers will have updated Confidence Questions that prompt students to use the academic language functions needed for rich math discourse: inform, explain, and argue.

Key Language Uses	Examples from Ellevation Strategies - request a demo to see them in action and explore the additional 100 activities!
Narrate	I Am Monologues enable students to tell stories and histories in a variety of contexts
Inform	Information Exchange engages students in sharing meaningful, factual information about a topic
Explain	Teach! Teach! prompts students to speak and listen to explanations
Argue	Pro/Con Improv engages students in building opinions and participating in debates

Proficiency Level Descriptors

The 2020 WIDA framework introduced 72 new Proficiency Level Descriptors (PLDs) to be used to describe student’s progress towards English language proficiency. All 72 of the new PLDs are now available in the Ellevation Platform WIDA 2020 Goal bank.

The addition of these new PLDs enables Ellevation partners to formatively assess and track student progress to English language proficiency. Goals provides a consistent set of tools and visualizations to monitor student growth over the course of the school year.

When implemented with fidelity, our data and instructional planning platform, professional learning and instructional products will help you accelerate learning for your multilingual learners.