Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Free Online Score Calculators





August means that most of us are gearing up for the school year to start. Each new school year brings new students who need to be screened for English as a Second Language and/or bilingual services. Screening begins with some type of Home Language Survey that parents fill out during registration. The next step typically involves an assessment of English language proficiency. As members of the WIDA Consortium, you likely use either the MODEL or W-APT to assess your new students' English language proficiency.

Occasionally I run into educators who are unaware of the free online score report calculators that WIDA offers. By using these online score calculators, you can expect to save a great deal of time and trouble.

Friday, August 9, 2013

Welcome Michigan and South Carolina!


  
Last month the WIDA Consortium welcomed two new states.
 
Michigan became the 32nd member of the Consortium. This means that Michigan educators will begin administering the ACCESS for ELLs assessment during the 2013-14 school year. You might remember that Michigan adopted the WIDA ELD Standards in January 2013.  Since most of us haven't returned to school yet, it's a great time to read up on the ACCESS for ELLs assessmentHere are a few blog posts to get you started: