Leading the Way 2016

The WIDA English Language Development
Standards are North Carolina’s essential
standards for English Language Learners. The
standards address the language needs of
students at varying proficiency levels within the
content areas of math, science, social studies,
language arts, and social/instructional language.
WIDA also provides two essential English language proficiency assessments: the W-APT
and the ACCESS. Both of these assessments are aligned to the WIDA standards.
Newly enrolled language minority students take the W-APT screener within the first
30 days of the start of school, or, if entering after the school year starts, within 15
days. Based on results from the W-APT screener, students are designated as LEP or
never identified. Students who are designated as LEP are placed in the school’s
Language Instruction Educational Program (LIEP). Students who are designated as
never identified from the W-APT results are considered proficient in English.
The ACCESS is administered annually to all LEP students to measure progress and
proficiency. There are six levels of English language proficiency measured by the
ACCESS test.
Results of the ACCESS provide information about how students are progressing in
reading, writing, speaking and listening in English. See ACCESS score criteria
required for exiting LEP status below.
All teachers can use the results of the ACCESS paired with the WIDA standards to
plan and deliver instruction.
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
Level 4
Level 5
Level 6
Entering
Emerging
Developing
Expanding
Bridging
Reaching
Student can
process and
produce words,
phrases or
chunks of
language with
sensory,
graphic and
interactive
support.
Student can
process and
produce
general
language
related to the
content area
in phrases or
short
sentences with
support.
Student can
process and
produce
general and
some specific
language of
content area in
expanded
sentences with
support.
Student can
process and
produce
specific and
some technical
language of the
content area at
a variety of
sentence
lengths with
support.
Student can
process and
produce
specialized or
technical
language of the
content areas
at extended
sentence
lengths with
minimal
support.
Student can
process and
produce
specialized or
technical
language
reflective of the
content areas
as comparable
to proficient
English
speaking peers.