Emerging Bilinguals Program Participation

Proper identification of emerging bilingual students (EBs) helps ensure that students are placed in the district English Language Development (ELD) program that will best meet their needs. In BVSD, the process for initial identification, assessment, and placement of EB students differs slightly across grade levels and programming. 

The steps in the initial identification process are as follows:

WIDA Scores

What is WIDA Screener?

WIDA Screener is a formative assessment given to incoming K-12 students with a home or primary language other than English to determine their English language proficiency in listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Students must be assessed within 30 days of the beginning of the school year or within 2 weeks of enrollment throughout the remainder of the school year for students with a home or primary language other than English. Results determine federal language designations of non-English proficient (NEP), Limited English Proficient (LEP), or Fluent English Proficient (FEP), as well as appropriate instructional and program placement.

What is WIDA ACCESS?

WIDA ACCESS is an annual assessment that measures students’ English language proficiency in listening, speaking, reading, and writing. The assessment is required for all K-12 students federally designated as non-English proficient (NEP) or Limited English proficient (LEP). Results are used to determine student progress and what support services they need. WIDA ACCESS is aligned with the WIDA English Language Development Standards, which can be used by educators to inform instruction.

WIDA ACCESS Scores

ACCESS scores are reported in 6 levels. Scores indicate levels of language proficiency and can help determine the degree and type of scaffolds and supports students need to access and engage in grade level content. Scores also indicate student designations for federal and legal purposes. The three designations are NEP (Non-English Proficient), LEP (Limited English Proficient), and FEP (Fluent English Proficient). Score ranges are indicated in the graphic below.

The progress-monitoring process is as follows:

BVSD ELD teachers progress monitor EBs for the following purposes:

1. To monitor English language development across the school year

   • Monitoring ensures compliance with state and federal guidelines and alignment with the CO state mandate to implement formative assessment

2. To support and enhance instructional planning

3. To communicate with parents

Redesignation is the process of transitioning EBs out of ELD Services. BVSD has established redesignation criteria, based on recommendations from the Colorado Department of Education, to ensure that EBs are able to meaningfully engage with grade-level standards. These criteria, which include a Body of Evidence (BOE), are used to determine whether or not a student is ready to be redesignated. Once redesignated, students will no longer receive language instruction from an ELD teacher, though they should still receive differentiated language support provided by the general education teacher. The ELD teacher, in collaboration with content/grade-level teachers, will continue to monitor their academic progress for two years through the required FEP monitoring procedures.

Once students are redesignated, they are classified as Fluent English Proficient Monitor Year 1 (FEP M1) and Fluent English Proficient Monitor Year 2 (FEP M2), and they no longer take WIDA ACCESS. However, federal law requires that their linguistic and academic progress be monitored for two years.

It is important that general education teachers be made aware of students’ language backgrounds. Students will continue to benefit from instruction that fosters language development and that includes multiple strategies to make content understandable, as the academic skills students need to be successful take many years to develop deeply. ELD teachers can support general education teachers with the following:  

• providing opportunities for academic language use,
• Offering feedback on language errors,
• Encouraging peer collaboration,
• Providing opportunities for cross-linguistic connections.

The ultimate goal is to monitor student progress and ensure that they are:

• Academically successful

• Proficient in grade-level reading, writing, and content areas