HR Non-Discrimination Policy 10-2019
Under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), all students identified as ELs, including those whose parents have waived ESL services, must participate in mandated testing that measures and reports an EL’s growth. WIDA ACCESS is the assessment used to measure the EL’s growth. It is a standards-based, curriculum-referenced English language proficiency assessment designed to measure an EL’s social and academic English proficiency and progress. It assesses the social and academic language across the four language domains of speaking, listening, reading, and writing. The results of WIDA ACCESS provide the school district the following information: serve as one criterion to aid in determining when ELs have attained the language proficiency needed to meaningfully participate in content area classrooms without ESL program support and state assessments without accommodations; provide information that will aid in evaluating the effectiveness of ESL programs; identify English language proficiency of EL students; and provide results that may meet ESL program exit criteria set by the Tennessee Department of Education.