New Federal Preschool Funding Fuels WIDA Program for Young Dual Language Learners

December 23, 2014

Millions of federal dollars awarded to 18 states earlier this month will allow WIDA, an international nonprofit education resource based at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, to advance academic language development among the 31% of children under the age of eight in the United States who grow up learning two or more languages, most often Spanish spoken natively in their homes and English.

Due to this new funding from the U.S. Departments of Education and Health and Human Services, WIDA, which is part of the Wisconsin Center for Education Research and the School of Education at UW-Madison, is preparing to expand its Early Years program focused on children between the ages of two and six. Introduced several months ago, this program uses empirically proven teaching methods including play-focused learning and strong support for family relationships within the child’s home language and culture.

WIDA already has been notified of the need to expand its initial Early Years efforts in Massachusetts and Nevada. Many other states are expected to request similar services of WIDA due to the awards’ requirements for supporting young language learners.

“We at WIDA congratulate Massachusetts, Nevada, and the 16 other states for being named recipients of Preschool Development Grants,” said WIDA Executive Director Tim Boals. “We look forward to continuing to work with these states in developing their educational programs for young dual language learners. We hope more states will join this partnership to expand the educational opportunities available to children and their families across the country.”

The number of young dual language learners in early care and education programs and public schools in the United States has continued to rise during the past 20 years and is projected to continue growing. According to 2012 data, 31% or 11.2 million children under the age of eight in the U.S. are learning more than one language while they grow up. That total is up 19% during a span of 22 years across the U.S., but in some states that growth rate has surpassed 200%.

Highlighting the demand for supporting young dual language learners, even states not receiving this federal funding, such as Georgia, Wisconsin, and Delaware, have contracted with WIDA to provide their administrators and educators a comprehensive set of developmentally appropriate academic language development resources services designed to promote the equity of young dual language learners.

“Early care and education programs are faced with the challenge of implementing culturally and linguistically relevant instruction and assessment,” said Erin Arango-Escalante, director of WIDA Early Years. “We can help state and local early care and education programs support dual language development while simultaneously providing practitioners and families with helpful tools and resources.”

“Positive relationships with primary caregivers and everyday child-initiated play supported by adults are critical to early learning and development,” Arango-Escalante said. “It is through these primary relationships and play that children learn to interact with others, develop language, acquire vocabulary, recognize and solve problems, and discover their potential.”

In 2015, the WIDA Early Years team will continue to develop a suite of language assessments with pilot and field testing to take place in Nevada, the first state to provide assessment development funding, and other states. Coaching for program leaders and practitioners will be launched in Massachusetts while statewide training and technical assistance will begin in Georgia.

In the past year, WIDA released Early English and Early Spanish Language Development Standards, which describe the social and academic language dual language learners need be successful in standards-based curricula. The standards are designed to allow educators to connect the language development of dual language learners with the states’ Early Learning Standards, Head Start Child Development and Early Learning Framework, and the WIDA K-12 English and Spanish Language Development Standards.

As part of its Early Years program, WIDA is developing an early language development screener to provide educators and families a portrait of their children’s language. The screener includes a home language survey, a parent and caregiver questionnaire and interview, and observational language protocols.

For practitioners’ professional development, WIDA offers a program that combines a three-day workshop, ongoing monthly training and reflection sessions, webinars, modules, and technical assistance. WIDA also offers a toolkit on its website for educators of young dual language learners.

About WIDA

WIDA was founded in 2003 with the mission of advancing academic language development and academic achievement for linguistically diverse students through high quality standards, assessments, research, and professional development for educators. Each year, WIDA touches the lives of millions of students and hundreds of educators around the world as it furthers educational equity and success for PreK—12 English language learners. WIDA is part of the Wisconsin Center for Education Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Education.