Alternate FAQ
Per Wida (www.wida.us):
Alternate ACCESS for ELLs is a large-scale English language proficiency test for grade 1–12 students with the most significant cognitive disabilities. It is one component of WIDA’s comprehensive, standards-driven system that supports the teaching and learning of English language learners (ELLs). The purpose of Alternate ACCESS for ELLs is to monitor student progress in English language proficiency on a yearly basis and to serve as just one of the many criteria that educators consider as they determine whether English learners have attained an English language proficiency level that will allow them to meaningfully participate in English language classroom instruction.
Alternate ACCESS for ELLs is a standards-referenced test, which means that student performance is compared to English language development standards WIDA has defined. Any student can achieve any score, and students are not ranked against each other or against the expected performance of monolingual English speakers.
Proficiency levels are interpretive scores. In other words, they are based on, but separate from, the student’s earned test score (see the Listening and Reading Scores section for detail). The proficiency level score describes the student’s performance in terms of the six WIDA Alternate English Language Proficiency Levels:
- Level 1: Entering
- Level 2: Emerging
- Level 3: Developing
- Level 4: Expanding
- Level 5: Bridging