BHS 9th Grade ELA

WIDA CAN DO DESCRIPTORS, KEY USES Understanding What Students Can Do

Critical Actions for Educators *Access WIDA scores on Data Dashboard. *Use WIDA reports, other data and Key Uses to support students in developing and tracking personal language goals. academic language use varies across levels of proficiency. *Utilize Key Uses to design rigorous instruction and assessments appropriate for students’ levels of proficiency. * Use Key Uses as a tool to provide access to Tier 1 Core Curriculum *Advocate for your ELL students in your classroom. *Understand how

WIDA, part of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is dedicated to the research, design and implementation of standards and high- quality language proficiency assessments for English learners (EL). ELs are assessed annually across 4 domains - reading, writing, speaking and listening - using the WIDA ACCESS 2.0 assessment. WIDA’s Can Do Philosophy reflects the foundational belief that linguistically and culturally diverse learners bring valuable assets to the classroom and enrich the school community. The Can Do Descriptors, Key Uses are examples of how ELs can engage in academic contexts at each of the 6 levels of language proficiency. Example Key Use descriptors represent the four overarching communicative purposes (Key Uses) researchers have identified as integral to academic success: • Recount : to display knowledge or narrate experiences or events • Explain : To clarify the “why” or the “how” of ideas, actions, or phenomena • Argue : To persuade by making claims supported by evidence • Discuss : To interact with others to build meaning and share knowledge The Can Do Descriptors, Key Uses complement the WIDA Performance Definitions of the English Language Proficiency. Performance Definitions are general descriptions of what ELs at each level can do with language while Key Uses represent examples of what students can process and produce at each proficiency level and each Key Use - Recount, Explain, Argue, Discuss - in all domains of language - reading, writing, speaking and listening.

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