Supporting New Jersey ELLs with WIDA-Correlated Programs

English language learners (ELLs) are a growing part of the K–12 student population in New Jersey. According to the New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE) Office of Supplemental Educational Programs, approximately 23 percent of students in New Jersey come from a home where a language other than English is spoken.

The combination of an increasing ELL population and more rigorous Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) accountability expectations that require all states to set goals for ELL progress toward English-language proficiency feeds directly into how New Jersey is defining support for this subgroup of learners today.

Understand New Jersey Measurement of ELL Performance and Growth

In compliance with the ESSA’s accountability regulations regarding ELLs, New Jersey English language learners are given the WIDA™ ACCESS for ELLs 2.0® tests to evaluate progress toward English language proficiency (ELP). NJDOE defines the proficiency cut score as a composite score of 4.5 on ACCESS for ELLs 2.0. Student growth expectations will be increased by equal intervals each year from 2018–23 so that all students meet the proficient cut score within five years. This measure of progress recognizes students entering English-language programs and receiving related services start at different levels of English proficiency. Therefore, students at lower levels of ELP will have more ambitious annual growth targets. New Jersey’s goal is that, by 2023, 86 percent of English language learners in grades K–12 in each school will make expected annual progress toward attaining English language proficiency.

Identify a Trusted Partner to Support Your ELL Population

This increasing population of diverse learners in New Jersey and across the country highlights the growing need for quality educational materials that target English-language proficiency and continuous academic growth. Ensure that you have an education partner who offers high-quality programs to drive your students toward desired outcomes.

At Edmentum, we value our continued partnership with WIDA to help validate the quality of our online programs and their ability to adequately fulfill the unique needs of your ELLs. As one of its key initiatives, the WIDA Consortium developed the Protocol for Review of Instructional Materials™ for ELLs (PRIME) as a tool to assist educators in making informed decisions about selecting instructional materials for language-education programs.

Edmentum Exact Path, ESL ReadingSmart, and Reading Eggs and Reading Eggspress have all been awarded a WIDA PRIME V2™ Correlation, following rigorous, independent reviews. By attaining a WIDA PRIME V2 Correlation, Edmentum joined a distinguished group of online learning providers who have completed the multicriteria analysis. Take a look at each of our aligned programs to discover how our solutions can help you confidently propel learning forward for your diverse ELL population.

Exact Path: Academic growth for K–8th grade ELLs

Edmentum’s individualized learning solution, Exact Path, supports the diverse needs of your ELLs through a flexible, personalized approach to learning. Proven to drive growth for ELLs, Exact Path is designed to develop students’ vocabulary and language skills and is supported with audio, models, and visual supports to help differentiate content for all targeted proficiency levels.

After completing an adaptive diagnostic assessment, each student is set on an individualized learning path to academic growth, which includes scaffolded instruction and practice aligned to the New Jersey Student Learning Standards. The program’s diagnostic assessment enables educators to determine the exact areas where a student needs remediation, as well as where a student may be working ahead of grade level. While Exact Path provides you with big-picture and skill-by-skill data views to support real-time progress monitoring for your students, the program’s user-friendly interface and engaging activities allow students to navigate their learning paths independently and build critical language skills.

ESL ReadingSmart: English-language proficiency for 4th grade through adult ELLs

ESL ReadingSmart is focused entirely on English-language proficiency, offering quality content for newcomer, beginner, intermediate, early advanced, and advanced ELLs. After an initial placement test, students are directed to individual lesson paths featuring meaningful curriculum selected to help accelerate learning. Each lesson contains activities, vocabulary, and reading selections to help students build academic vocabulary and to support English-language proficiency.

By providing students with individualized learning experiences tailored to their abilities, ESL ReadingSmart gives educators the flexibility to utilize the program as a student-centered, standalone application for independent language acquisition; leverage the program in a larger whole-class, blended-learning model; or integrate it for intervention or acceleration in after-school programs.

Reading Eggs and Reading Eggspress: Literacy development for pre-K–6th grade ELLs

Reading Eggs and Reading Eggspress, Edmentum’s dynamic two-in-one literacy solution, supports the reading and comprehension development of your ELLs with engaging activities and lessons aligned to the five essential pillars of reading—phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Content begins at an absolute emergent level and ensures that students receive extra support in phonemic awareness and phonics to close gaps in foundational reading skills before they ever have a chance to widen. Additionally, both Reading Eggs and Reading Eggspress offer a placement test to help your students begin their learning journeys at the correct level of instruction.

Once students have been placed at the appropriate level, carefully guided lessons infused with instructional modeling, audio supports, and engaging animations guide students’ literacy development as they become more confident readers. Every corner of Reading Eggs and Reading Eggspress is packed with rewarding and game-like features that keep students motivated and encouraged as they work through their lessons. As your ELLs crack the code on reading, they not only unlock the joys of becoming life-long readers, but they also open the door to all the academic gains that come with reading proficiency.

Interested in learning more about how WIDA and Edmentum partner to help drive your ELLs to academic success and English-language proficiency? Watch our recent webinar, [WIDA + Edmentum] Partnering to Drive ELL Success.