Two years of hard work are paying off and everyone
(consortium and non-consortium members) will be able to reap the benefits soon.
So what is SALSA? It is a collaborative project between the
Illinois State Board of Education, WIDA and the Center for Applied
Linguistics. It stands for Spanish
Academic Language Standards and Assessment.
As the name implies, there are two parts to the project. The first part has
been to create Spanish
Language Development (SLD) Standards.
In Spanish they are referred to as Continuos del Desarrollo Lingüístico. Similar to the English Language Proficiency Standards, the SLD Standards
focus on the academic language students will need in Spanish in the various
content areas. They have been developed
for students in K through 12th grade and can be used with Spanish
language learners receiving content area instruction in Spanish. These standards address the Spanish academic
language development of students in social and instructional language and the
language of math, science, social studies and Spanish language arts. The SLD Standards survey is now available!
If you instruct students in Spanish, please take a few
minutes to complete this survey. WIDA needs your feedback on the SLD
Standards. As a former bilingual Spanish
elementary teacher, I can’t wait to take a closer look at the standards.
The second part of the project
will be to develop a standards-based Spanish language development assessment
called PODER (Prueba Óptima del Español Realizado). PODER will consist of a screener test and a
technology mediated, reliable and valid Spanish language proficiency assessment
for kindergarten, first and second graders.
(WIDA is currently looking for funding to extend the SLD assessment to
grades 3-12). Very exciting!
Written by: Tammy King
Written by: Tammy King
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