A new series of lessons preparing students in US schools to take WIDA ACCESS assessments.
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What is WIDA ACCESS?
WIDA ACCESS is a high-stakes English language proficiency test that measures students’ academic English language skills. It is used in schools across the 41 WIDA states, territories and federal agencies. Schools use WIDA ACCESS for several important purposes, including identifying whether students are able to participate in core classes, determining whether students require additional language support and assessing what types of support to offer them. Colloquially, WIDA ACCESS matters because students need to achieve a particular WIDA level in order to “test out” of their newcomer or EL status and join their school’s core classes.
Target students
These lessons are ideal for all students who are preparing to take WIDA ACCESS assessments, including but not limited to:
- LTEL: Long-term English Learners. Students who have been in the US school system for several years and are still considered to be ELs. Their lack of WIDA ACCESS progress may be the result of insufficient test preparation rather than a lack of improvement.
- Newcomers: Students who have arrived in the US within the last 3 years and who are still learning English. Joining core classes at the earliest opportunity is the priority and achieving a benchmark WIDA level is typically the requirement to do this.
- SLIFE: Students with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education. These students may have limited experience with taking computer-based tests. While paper versions of WIDA ACCESS do exist, they are not commonly used by schools meaning building familiarity with the computer-based versions of WIDA ACCESS is vital for test success.
Key features
Lessons in this series are divided into four modules of seven lessons, each covering one language domain: listening, reading, writing and speaking. These modules all include:
- Authentic test items: Each lesson is built around a series of practice test items, all replicating the style, format and sequence of test items on WIDA ACCESS.
- High school grade levels: Lessons contain test items covering the WIDA grade level 9-12, meaning these lessons can be used with students across high school grades.
- Mapping to WIDA language expectations: Each test item assesses a specific WIDA language expectation across all five WIDA ELD standards, so students are prepared for the full range of questions they will encounter.
- Range of proficiency levels: Lessons include a selection of test items across the proficiency range PL2 (Emerging)-PL5 (Bridging), allowing students to work towards the higher scores they need to achieve their goals.