Official Site of The State of New Jersey
WIDA English Language Development
New Jersey remains committed to supporting multilingual learners through policies and practices that promote access, equity, and academic success. The English Language Development Standards provide a framework for ensuring that multilingual learners receive the instruction and support necessary to develop English language proficiency while meeting the expectations of the New Jersey Student Learning Standards.
Implementation of these standards across all content areas supports inclusive learning environments and advances New Jersey’s commitment to preparing all students for success beyond graduation.
Intent and Spirit
The English Language Development Standards reflect New Jersey’s commitment to educational equity, access, and excellence for all students. The intent and spirit of these standards are grounded in the understanding that multilingualism is an asset and that the English language development standards are an essential part of how multilingual learners access New Jersey Student Learning Standards (NJSLS).
The standards are intended to:
- Ensure multilingual learners have access to grade-level, standards-aligned instruction
- Embed language development within academic content learning
- Strengthen collaboration among educators so that language and content objectives are integrated across classrooms
- Provide a framework for differentiating instruction based on English language proficiency
- Affirm and build upon students’ linguistic and cultural assets
The English Language Development Standards are a shared responsibility across all content areas and support inclusive and equitable learning environments. The English Language Development standards are a foundational component of standards-aligned instruction, guiding educators in designing learning experiences that make the NJSLS accessible to all students.
Mission
The mission of English Language Development in New Jersey is to ensure that multilingual learners develop the English language proficiency required to access and engage with the New Jersey Student Learning Standards while continuing to strengthen and value their primary languages as essential assets in the learning process. New Jersey affirms an asset-based approach to multilingualism in which students grow their English language proficiency while continuing to develop mastery of their home and heritage languages.
New Jersey is committed to supporting school districts in implementing evidence-based instructional practices that promote academic language development, multilingualism, and content learning for multilingual learners across all grade levels and content areas.
The New Jersey English Language Development Standards, based on the WIDA English Language Development Standards Framework, 2020 Edition, provide a statewide framework to guide instruction, assessment, and support for multilingual learners. Through this work, the Department seeks to ensure all New Jersey students are prepared with the knowledge, skills, and multilingual competencies necessary to succeed in global society.
Vision
New Jersey envisions an educational system in which all multilingual learners have equitable access to high-quality instruction that supports linguistic development, academic achievement, and full participation in school and community life. Through standards-aligned instruction that integrates language and content learning, multilingual learners will develop the academic language and skills necessary for success in college, career, and civic engagement.
Implementation Across Content Areas
The English Language Development Standards are designed to be implemented by all educators who work with multilingual learners. Classroom teachers, ESL and bilingual educators, specialists, and administrators share responsibility for ensuring that multilingual learners receive appropriate linguistic and academic support.
Districts and schools should use the English Language Development Standards to:
- Integrate language development into standards-based instruction
- Differentiate instruction based on students’ English language proficiency levels
- Provide scaffolded opportunities for academic discourse and language use
- Support collaboration between ESL/bilingual and content-area educators
- Monitor student progress in language development and academic achievement
- Provide continued support for students who have exited multilingual learner status, as needed
The standards are intended to guide instructional planning and support equitable access to rigorous academic content for multilingual learners.
The 2020 Edition of the WIDA ELD Standards Framework is anchored by four Big Ideas that are interwoven throughout the standards. They support the design of standards-based educational experiences that are student-centered, culturally and linguistically sustaining, and responsive to multilingual learners’ strengths and needs.
The four big ideas are:
- Equity of Opportunity and Access
- Integration of Content and Language
- Collaboration among Stakeholders
- Functional Approach to Language Development
Components of WIDA ELD Standards
The WIDA ELD Standards Framework consists of four components:
- Standards statements
- Key language uses
- Language expectations
- Proficiency level descriptions
These four components are like building blocks of language development and range from broad to narrow in scope. They work together to provide a comprehensive picture of language development.
Standards Statements
The ELD Standards Statements provide educators with a connection between language development and academic content area learning. Like a string of flags hanging in the classroom, the statements represent the broad and ever-present language of the disciplines.
The standards are organized by grade level clusters, that is kindergarten, grade 1, grades 2–3, grades 4-5, grades 6-8, and grades 9–12. They are outlined as follows:
- Standard 1: Language for Social and Instructional Purposes — English language learners communicate for social and instructional purposes within the school setting.
- Standard 2: Language for Language Arts — English language learners communicate information, ideas and concepts necessary for academic success in the content area of language arts.
- Standard 3: Language for Mathematics — English language learners communicate information, ideas and concepts necessary for academic success in the content area of mathematics.
- Standard 4: Language for Science — English language learners communicate information, ideas and concepts necessary for academic success in the content area of science.
- Standard 5: Language for Social Studies — English language learners communicate information, ideas and concepts necessary for academic success in the content area of social studies.
Key Language Uses
The Key Language Uses describe prominent ways that language is used in school, across all disciplines. When educators make choices about how to integrate content and language, the Key Language Uses can help provide focus and coherence.
- Narrate highlights language to convey real or imaginary experiences through stories and histories. Narratives serve many purposes, including to instruct, entertain, teach, or support argumentation.
- Inform highlights language to provide factual information. As students convey information, they define, describe, compare, contrast, organize, categorize, or classify concepts, ideas, or phenomena.
- Explain highlights language to give an account for how things work or why things happen. As students explain, they substantiate the inner workings of natural, man-made, and social phenomena.
- Argue highlights language to justify claims using evidence and reasoning. Argue can be used to advance or defend an idea or solution, change the audience’s point of view, bring about action, or accept a position or evaluation of an issue.
Language Expectations
The Language Expectations set goals for content-driven language learning. They add specificity to the ELD Standards Statements and Key Language Uses and make the language associated with the content areas visible. Language Expectations are the statements most similar to what educators generally find in academic content standards.
Proficiency Level Descriptors
Proficiency Level Descriptors (PLDs) describe a continuum of language development for activities that target Language Expectations. They provide a detailed articulation of how students might develop language across the six levels of English language proficiency.
The WIDA English Language Development Standards Framework supports multilingual learners’ language development across English language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies. Through its partnership with WIDA, the New Jersey Department of Education has organized direct links to relevant components of the ELD Standards Framework by content area and grade-level cluster to help educators connect the framework to their instructional contexts.
These content-area resources serve as entry points into the comprehensive WIDA ELD Standards Framework and are intended to support collaboration among multilingual learner educators, classroom teachers, content area specialists, and school leaders. Educators are encouraged to use these resources alongside the full framework when planning instruction, identifying language expectations, and designing opportunities for multilingual learners to engage meaningfully with grade-level content.
Links can be found on the right-hand side of the New Jersey Student Learning Standards pages for English language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies.