Arizona ELP Standards: The 10 Standards, Three Levels, and Official PDFs by Grade Band

Estimated reading time: 15 minutes

The Arizona ELP Standards are the ten English Language Proficiency Standards that define what English Learners in Arizona must be able to do with English, from kindergarten through grade 12. The Arizona State Board of Education approved them in December 2018, the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) calls them the 2019 ELPS, and every state-approved EL program must use them. This guide lists the ten standards, explains the three proficiency levels, gives the official PDF for each grade band, and shows how the standards connect to AZELLA and to the daily ELD block.

Executive Summary

Arizona replaced its 2010 English language proficiency standards with a set approved in December 2018 and fully implemented in 2021-2022. The 2019 standards are short to list and demanding to teach: ten standards, identical from kindergarten through grade 12, grouped by mode of communication rather than by language domain.

Each standard is written as performance indicators at three proficiency levels (Pre-Emergent/Emergent, Basic and Intermediate) for six grade bands. There is no Proficient column, because in Arizona a student who reaches Proficient on AZELLA exits EL services. AZELLA has been aligned to these standards since spring 2023.

For district leaders the practical point is the balance of the ten: six ask the student to produce or exchange language. A framework weighted that heavily toward production is only as good as the production time a school day gives each student.

Key Takeaways

• Ten standards, K-12: the same ten apply in every grade band, with expectations that grow in sophistication.
• Organized by mode: receptive (1-2), productive (3-5), interactive (6-8) and language (9-10).
• Three proficiency levels: Pre-Emergent/Emergent, Basic and Intermediate. Proficient is the exit, not a teaching level.
• Six grade bands: K, 1, 2-3, 4-5, 6-8 and 9-12, each with its own PDF on the ADE site.
• Required, not optional: ADE states that the SBE-approved EL programs of instruction require the 2019 ELPS.
• AZELLA follows them: the assessment has been aligned to the 2019 ELPS since spring 2023.
• Not the Texas ELPS: Texas uses the same acronym for a different set of standards with a different level scale.

What Are the Arizona ELP Standards?

Quick answer: the Arizona ELP Standards are the state’s official English Language Proficiency Standards (ELPS), published by ADE’s Office of English Language Acquisition Services (OELAS). They describe what an English Learner should be able to do with English at each proficiency level, and they are the basis for both ELD instruction and AZELLA.

OELAS began revising the 2010 standards in 2017. The State Board of Education approved the revision in December 2018, which is why the documents are titled “Arizona English Language Proficiency Standards 2019.” In 2024 ADE republished the grade band files as “Clarified 2024” versions. According to the documents themselves (“format revised June 2024”), the change was one of format: the “AZ ELA Standard Alignment” column moved out of the standards pages and into Appendix B. The standards did not change.

Three other documents share the name and are easy to confuse with this one:

• The Texas ELPS are a separate set of standards adopted by the Texas State Board of Education. See ELPS Texas: The English Language Proficiency Standards.
• The ELPA21 ELP Standards are the multistate standards used by ELPA21 member states. Arizona is not an ELPA21 state for the general assessment; it uses AZELLA.
• The Arizona Adult Education ELP Standards (2022) apply to adult education programs, not to K-12 districts.

The 10 Arizona ELP Standards

The ten standards are consistent from kindergarten through grade 12. ADE groups them by mode of communication, with two standards dedicated to language, one of which covers grammar.

The full wording of Standard 1, as ADE publishes it, is: “Construct meaning from oral presentations and literary and informational text through grade-appropriate listening, reading, and viewing.”

Where the Ten Standards Come From

Placed side by side, Arizona’s ten standards match the ten English Language Proficiency Standards published by the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) in 2014, the same set that underlies the ELPA21 standards. The wording is nearly identical. What Arizona changed is the order: CCSSO numbers the standards from understanding toward analysis, while Arizona regroups them by mode. CCSSO’s Standard 2 (exchanges) becomes Arizona’s Standard 6, and CCSSO’s Standard 8 (word meaning) becomes Arizona’s Standard 2.

The consequence: materials written for ELPA21 states usually map onto Arizona’s standards once the numbering is translated, but the level scale does not transfer. CCSSO describes five levels, Arizona three.

The Three Proficiency Levels in the Arizona ELP Standards

Quick answer: the Arizona ELP Standards include three proficiency levels: Pre-Emergent/Emergent, Basic and Intermediate. The 2019 ELPS Guidance Document describes the performance indicators as what a student should be able to do by the end of each level.

AZELLA reports a fourth level, Proficient. It does not appear in the standards because a student who reaches it exits EL services and enters monitoring. The standards describe the levels at which teaching happens, and the assessment adds the level at which it stops. How the four AZELLA levels are scored, and the Spring 2026 cut scores, are covered in AZELLA Scores Explained.

Here is how one indicator grows across the three levels, quoted from the Grades 2-3 document, Standard 1, first performance indicator. By the end of each level, the student can:

Each level adds independence and precision rather than a new topic: from answering to asking, and from literal recall to evidence tied to a main idea.

Arizona ELP Standards PDF by Grade Band

ADE publishes one PDF per grade band. The current files are the Clarified 2024 versions. The original April 2019 files remain on the same page for reference.

Supporting Documents

The documents below explain how to read and use the standards.

All of these are linked from the ADE English Language Proficiency Standards page, which also hosts recorded overviews for grades K-5 and 6-12.

How to Read an Arizona ELPS Code

Every performance indicator has a code, which is what teachers write into a lesson plan or language objective. The Coding Guidance gives this example:

1. EL: English Language.
2. 4-5: the grade band.
3. S3: Standard 3, a productive standard.
4. PE/E: the proficiency level, Pre-Emergent/Emergent.
5. 1: the first performance indicator.

Put together, EL.4-5.S3.PE/E-1 identifies one indicator precisely. Inside a grade band document the indicators appear in short form (PE/E-1, B-1, I-1). Reading Foundational skills use their own RF format.

Reading Foundational Skills

The K-5 grade band documents include four Reading Foundational skills: Phonological Awareness (oral skills), Print Concepts, Phonics and Word Recognition (decoding), and Fluency. ADE publishes a separate Reading Foundational Skills document for grades 6-12, which secondary schools enrolling newcomers without foundational literacy in English should know exists.

Implementation Timeline

How the Arizona ELP Standards Connect to AZELLA and ELD Instruction

The standards sit at the center of three Arizona obligations.

The instructional models. Arizona approves four Structured English Immersion models (Pull-Out, Two-Hour, Newcomer and 50-50 Dual Language Immersion), and A.R.S. §15-756.01 requires a minimum of 120 minutes of English language development per day in grades K-5 and 100 minutes in grades 6-12. ADE’s EL Handbook (December 2024) states that “the SBE-approved English learner programs of instruction require the utilization of the SBE-approved 2019 ELPS.” Details in Arizona English Learner Requirements.

Integrated and targeted instruction. The standards are meant to be used in two settings:

• Integrated instruction: content teachers plan lessons with the ELPS alongside content standards. The Handbook says performance indicators “are selected to scaffold language by proficiency level.”
• Targeted instruction: during the ELD block, teachers use the performance indicators “to teach how English works.”

The assessment. AZELLA has been aligned to the 2019 ELPS since spring 2023. A test built on modes rewards interaction, which a worksheet cannot rehearse. The AZELLA practice test guide covers what format practice can move.

Arizona ELP Standards vs Texas ELPS vs WIDA

Teachers recruited from other states, and materials built elsewhere, bring frameworks that use similar words for different things.

The Texas row reflects the standards the Texas SBOE approved in September 2024, which districts implement beginning in 2026-2027, as set out on the TEA ELPS page. The WIDA scale is explained in WIDA Levels Explained. An “Intermediate” student in Arizona and in Texas sits at different points on different scales.

Funding Options

Supplement not supplant is the rule that matters most in Arizona: because the ELD block is required by statute, Title III cannot pay for the block itself, only for what runs alongside it, including professional development on the standards. The boundaries are in the complete guide to Title III funding, and the cooperative route is explained in the TIPS purchasing cooperative guide.

District Benchmark: Six Standards That Require Production

The Migration Policy Institute’s Arizona fact sheet puts English Learners at about 6 percent of the state’s preK-12 enrollment. A district of 3,000 students therefore serves roughly 180 English Learners, spread across all six grade bands and all three instructional levels.

Six of the ten standards (3 through 8) are productive or interactive. Meeting them depends on each student producing language, not on hearing classmates do it.

The Speaking Time Gap Inside a 120-Minute Block

The Speaking Time Gap is the distance between the individual speaking practice a learner needs and what one teacher can physically provide. It exists because spoken interaction divides by the number of students in the room, while reading and writing tasks do not.

The arithmetic is simple. Take a K-5 ELD block of 120 minutes with 25 students, and assume, generously, that a third of it is spent on individual oral production. That is 40 minutes shared by 25 students: about 1.6 minutes of individual speaking per student per day. The block is long by national standards. The divisor is what limits it.

Districts narrow the gap with partner routines, small-group rotations, and independent practice that does not wait for the teacher.

Common Mistakes District Leaders Make

1. Treating the ELPS as an ELD-teacher document. Integrated instruction makes them every content teacher’s standards.
2. Confusing Arizona’s ELPS with the Texas ELPS. Same acronym, different standards, different levels.
3. Planning for a Proficient level. The standards stop at Intermediate. Proficient on AZELLA means exit and monitoring.
4. Using the 2019 files instead of the Clarified 2024 files. The standards are the same, but the ELA alignment now lives in Appendix B.
5. Buying out-of-state materials without translating the numbering. CCSSO Standard 2 is Arizona Standard 6.
6. Writing language objectives without indicator codes. A code makes an objective checkable.

Recommended Actions

Immediate (This Month)

• Confirm every ELD teacher is working from the Clarified 2024 grade band file.
• Share the Coding Guidance and require indicator codes in ELD lesson plans.
• List how many students sit at each level, by grade band, from last spring’s AZELLA results.

Medium-Term (This Year)

• Train content teachers on integrated use, starting with Standards 3, 4 and 6.
• Audit how much of the ELD block is spent on individual production against Standards 3 to 8.

Long-Term (Strategy)

• Build speaking practice that scales with enrollment, not with teacher minutes.
• Track growth per standard between AZELLA administrations.

Questions District Leaders Should Ask

• How many minutes of individual spoken production does each English Learner get during the ELD block?
• Can our content teachers name the ELP standard behind the language objective on their board?
• Which of the ten standards do our AZELLA results suggest we teach least well?

Frequently Asked Questions

How many ELP standards are there in Arizona?

Ten. The same ten standards apply from kindergarten through grade 12, grouped by mode of communication: two receptive, three productive, three interactive and two language standards.

What are ELP standards?

English Language Proficiency (ELP) standards describe the English an English Learner needs for grade-level learning, level by level. Every state must adopt them under federal law. Arizona’s are the 2019 ELPS.

Which proficiency levels do the Arizona ELP Standards include?

Three: Pre-Emergent/Emergent, Basic and Intermediate. AZELLA adds a fourth level, Proficient, which marks the exit from EL services.

What is true about the Arizona ELP Standards?

They were approved in December 2018, fully implemented in 2021-2022, consistent from K through 12, organized by mode, required in every state-approved EL program, and aligned with AZELLA since spring 2023.

What is the difference between academic standards and ELP standards?

Academic standards, such as Arizona’s ELA standards, define what all students learn in a subject. ELP standards define the English an English Learner needs to access it. Appendix B shows how the two align.

What are the 5 levels of language proficiency?

It depends on the framework. The CCSSO ELP standards use five levels, and the new Texas ELPS use five named levels, from Pre-production to Advanced. Arizona’s standards use three, AZELLA four, WIDA six.

Where can I find the Arizona ELP Standards PDF?

On the ADE English Language Proficiency Standards page, one file per grade band, labeled Clarified 2024. Direct links are in the table above.

Related Resources

• English Learners in Arizona: The Data, the Law, the System
• AZELLA: What Arizona’s English Learner Assessment Is and Who Takes It
• AZELLA Scores Explained: Levels, Cut Scores and the 2026 Changes
• AZELLA Practice Test: Official Free Links by Grade Band
• Arizona English Learner Requirements: Models and Minutes
• ELPS Texas: The English Language Proficiency Standards
• ELPA21 Standards: The 10 ELP Standards Explained

Conclusion

The Arizona ELP Standards look simple on a page: ten standards, three levels, six grade bands. What makes them demanding is their balance, six of ten built on production, in a state that has already protected the time to teach them. The question that decides results is no longer whether the ELD block exists, but how much of it each student spends actually producing English at the level the standards describe.

Sources: Arizona Department of Education, English Language Proficiency Standards; ADE, 2019 ELPS Guidance Document; ADE, ELPS Coding Guidance; ADE, EL Handbook (December 2024); ADE, EL Instructional Services; CCSSO ELP Standards (2014), Oregon Department of Education copy; Texas Education Agency, English Language Proficiency Standards; Migration Policy Institute, English Learners in Arizona fact sheet.

Three Levels, One Standard, One Teacher

Picture a grade 4 ELD block working on Standard 4, constructing a claim and supporting it with evidence. Some students are at Pre-Emergent/Emergent, some at Basic, a few at Intermediate. Each needs to say a claim out loud, at their own level, and hear a response.

We ask a lot of that teacher. The standards are clear and the minutes are protected, but while one student speaks, twenty-four others wait. This is a question of capacity, not of skill.

Some districts are adding practice that does not wait in line for the teacher. Telo AI is one example: short speaking sessions, five minutes three times a week, where the AI adjusts to the student’s level, asks for reasons instead of accepting one-word answers, and runs in a browser or on an embodied robot. For 50-50 dual language classrooms, Telo AI also offers Spanish and French apps.

See how individual speaking practice fits inside a mandated ELD block: https://mytelo.ai/how-telo-works/

The performance indicators already describe what each student should be able to say. The harder work is giving every one of them enough turns to say it.