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Assessments to Determine Eligibility

As a member of the WIDA Consortium, the Minnesota Department of Education uses WIDA language proficiency assessments to determine if a student should be classified as an ELL.  Kindergarten students are assessed using the WIDA-Access Placement Test (W-APT) and students in grades 1 through 8 are assessed using the WIDA Screener.  

The W-APT and WIDA Screener determine English Learner (EL) eligibility and provide a preliminary measure of a student’s English language proficiency in the four domains of listening, speaking, reading, and writing based on the model performance indicators of WIDA's five English Language Development (ELD) standards:

  •         Social and instructional language.
  •         The language needed for success in the content area of Language Arts.
  •         The language needed for success in the content area of Mathematics.
  •         The language needed for success in the content area of Science.
  •         The language needed for success in the content area of Social Studies.

 

WIDA Assessments