English language development standards

The Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) adopted the World-class Instructional Design and Assessment English Language Development (WIDA ELD) standards in 2011. WIDA is a multistate consortium focused on academic language development and academic achievement for linguistically diverse students through high-quality standards, assessments, research, and professional development for educators.

The WIDA ELD standards promote academic language proficiency in four content areas: language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies, to facilitate students' success in school. WIDA provides a host of tools and resources educators can use to differentiate instruction for English Learners (ELs) and promote their academic language development. For an overview of the WIDA ELD Standards, please visit the WIDA English Language Development (ELD) Standards page. MDE is committed to supporting effective implementation of the WIDA ELD Standards.