Supporting North Carolina ELs with WIDA-Correlated Programs

English learners (ELs) are one of the fastest growing and lowest-performing student subgroups in America. According to a 2017 article from NPR Ed, North Carolina was one of the top five states to experience the most EL population growth between 2000 and 2014. The 2013–14 data also indicate that North Carolina has a student population just shy of 6.9 percent ELs, on par with the national average.

Increasing the need to adequately serve this population of students, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) accountability expectations now require all states to set goals for EL progress toward English-language proficiency, which then feeds directly into how North Carolina is defining support for this subgroup of learners today.

How does North Carolina measure English learner success?

In accordance to the ESSA’s Progress in Achieving English Language Proficiency (ELP) indicator, North Carolina English language learners are given the WIDA™ ACCESS for ELLs 2.0® tests annually until they achieve a proficiency exit goal of 4.8, with a minimum of 4.0 on the Reading and Writing subtests. The following value table shows the expected progress for students based on their initial assessment scores:

When comparing progress between the 2015–16 and the 2016–17 school years, 25.3 percent of ELs made progress on the ACCESS for ELLs 2.0 assessment. Using this data as a baseline, North Carolina has set a 10-year goal that requires 60 percent of ELs to make progress toward or exit EL status. This requires the state to improve by 3.47 percent per year. All EL students in K–12 will be measured for the purpose of this goal.

What should you expect from a trusted EL partner?

This increasing population of diverse learners in North Carolina only continues to highlight the growing need for quality educational materials that target English-language proficiency and continuous academic growth. Before students take the 2019 ACCESS for ELLs 2.0 exam, 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 programs and their ability to adequately fulfill the unique needs of your ELs. 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. Attaining WIDA PRIME V2 Correlations demonstrates our programs’ abilities to support the reading, writing, speaking, and listening needs of ELs. Take a look at each of our aligned programs to discover how our solutions can help you confidently propel learning forward for your diverse EL population.

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

Edmentum’s individualized learning solution, Exact Path, supports the diverse needs of your ELs through a flexible approach to learning. Proven to drive growth for ELs, 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 North Carolina standards. As an educator, the diagnostic assessment allows you 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 ELs

ESL ReadingSmart is focused entirely on English-language proficiency, offering quality content for newcomer, beginner, intermediate, early advanced, and advanced ELs. 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 ELs

Reading Eggs and Reading Eggspress, Edmentum’s dynamic two-in-one literacy solution, supports the reading and comprehension development of your ELs 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 supported 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 ELs 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 ELs to academic success and English-language proficiency? Watch our recent webinar, [WIDA + Edmentum] Partnering to Drive ELL Success.