WIDA ELD Standards: The 5 Standards, Key Language Uses and Official PDFs by Grade Cluster

Estimated reading time: 8 minutes

The WIDA ELD Standards are the five English Language Development Standards of the WIDA ELD Standards Framework, 2020 Edition: Language for Social and Instructional Purposes, Language for Language Arts, Language for Mathematics, Language for Science and Language for Social Studies. The framework adds four Key Language Uses (Narrate, Inform, Explain, Argue), Language Expectations for each grade-level cluster, and Proficiency Level Descriptors for six levels. WIDA publishes the full framework and a separate free PDF for each grade-level cluster: K, 1, 2-3, 4-5, 6-8 and 9-12. Since 2025-2026, ACCESS for ELLs incorporates the 2020 Edition. This page lists the standards, explains the parts of the framework, and links every official PDF.

Executive Summary

WIDA describes the framework as “a foundation for enriching curriculum, instruction and assessment for multilingual learners in kindergarten through grade 12.” It replaces the 2012 Amplification of the WIDA ELD Standards and is organized around the language students need to do academic work in each content area, not around a separate English curriculum.

For districts, three points matter. The standards belong to every content teacher, not only to EL staff. The grade-level cluster PDFs are the practical tool, because they contain the Language Expectations and Proficiency Level Descriptors for one cluster. And the framework now drives assessment: ACCESS moved to the 2020 Edition in 2025-2026, and WIDA plans a revised Screener built on it for 2028.

Key Takeaways

• Five ELD Standards, one social and instructional, four tied to content areas.
• Four Key Language Uses: Narrate, Inform, Explain, Argue.
• Four components: Standards Statements, Key Language Uses, Language Expectations, Proficiency Level Descriptors.
• Six grade-level clusters, each with its own free PDF.
• Six proficiency levels; level 6 is open-ended.
• ACCESS incorporates the 2020 Edition since 2025-2026.

The Five WIDA ELD Standards

Standard 1 is the only one not tied to a subject. Since 2025-2026, WIDA says it “is now incorporated throughout” ACCESS.

The Four Components of the Framework

1. ELD Standards Statements: the five standards above.
2. Key Language Uses: Narrate, Inform, Explain and Argue, the four genre families that appear most across content areas. See WIDA Key Language Uses explained.
3. Language Expectations: in WIDA’s words, “goals for content-driven language learning,” written for each standard, Key Language Use and grade-level cluster, in two modes: Interpretive (listening, reading, viewing) and Expressive (speaking, writing, representing).
4. Proficiency Level Descriptors: “a detailed articulation of multilingual learners’ growth in interpretive and expressive language across levels of English language proficiency,” described at the Discourse, Sentence and Word/Phrase dimensions.

Example of a Language Expectation (grades 4-5): “ELD-SC.4-5.Explain.Expressive: Construct scientific explanations that” describe observations, establish an objective stance, develop reasoning between evidence and claims, and summarize solutions. Each expectation lists its language functions and sample language features, such as abstract nouns (cycles, condensation) or the passive voice (evaporation is caused by).

Official WIDA ELD Standards PDFs by Grade-Level Cluster

All links go to wida.wisc.edu and were checked on September 28, 2026. Each grade-level cluster document contains the Key Language Use snapshots, the Language Expectations with functions and features, annotated language samples and the Proficiency Level Descriptors for that cluster.

WIDA also offers a searchable Digital Explorer, an Implementation Guide, and, for Spanish language development, the Marco DALE.

The Four Big Ideas

The framework rests on four Big Ideas, named in every grade-level cluster document:

• Equity of Opportunity and Access
• Integration of Content and Language
• Collaboration among Stakeholders
• Functional Approach to Language Development

In practice, they mean the same thing for a district: language development happens inside content instruction, and it is shared work between content and EL teachers.

Proficiency Levels in the 2020 Edition

The Proficiency Level Descriptors describe six levels. Levels 1 to 5 each have an end point; WIDA notes that “PL6 is open ended: it indicates that for all of us, language development continues throughout life.” ACCESS scores are reported on the same 1.0 to 6.0 scale. What each level means for a student is explained in WIDA levels explained, and the classroom version of the descriptors, the WIDA Language Charts, in the Language Charts guide.

2020 Edition vs the 2012 Amplification

The 2020 Edition replaced the 2012 Amplification of the WIDA ELD Standards, which itself built on the 2007 edition. WIDA publishes a comparison chart of the editions. The core of the 2020 Edition is the set of Key Language Uses, Language Expectations and Proficiency Level Descriptors organized by grade-level cluster, and assessment has followed. ACCESS incorporated the 2020 Edition in 2025-2026, with new speaking and writing rubrics, and WIDA “will release a revised WIDA Screener in 2028.”

Using the Standards to Write Language Objectives

The framework is not a lesson plan. WIDA states that it is “NOT intended to be” specific lessons “with a series of language objectives.” Teachers use the Language Expectations as the source: pick the expectation for the unit’s standard and Key Language Use, choose one language function, then name the language features students will practice. A worked process with examples is in our guide to writing language objectives.

District Benchmark: Who Owns the Standards

Take a middle school with 60 content teachers and 4 EL teachers serving 180 English learners. If the ELD Standards live only with the EL department, four teachers carry the language demands of every subject for 180 students. If each content teacher uses the grade 6-8 Language Expectations for their own subject, the work is shared across 64 teachers, and students meet the language of science in science class. That is what the Integration and Collaboration Big Ideas describe.

Common Mistakes

1. Treating the ELD Standards as an EL-only document.
2. Using the 2012 Amplification after ACCESS moved to the 2020 Edition.
3. Downloading the full framework when a teacher needs one grade-level cluster.
4. Copying Language Expectations as lesson objectives without narrowing them to one function and its features.
5. Ignoring Standard 1, social and instructional language, which ACCESS now uses throughout.

Recommended Actions

Immediate (this month): Give every content teacher the grade-level cluster PDF for their grades.

Medium-term (this year): Build one unit per department around a Language Expectation and its Key Language Use.

Long-term (strategy): Align curriculum reviews with the 2020 Edition before the revised Screener arrives in 2028.

Questions District Leaders Should Ask

• Are our teachers using the 2020 Edition or the 2012 Amplification?
• Do content teachers have the grade-level cluster PDFs for their grades?
• Which department plans with Language Expectations today?
• How do our language objectives connect to the Key Language Uses?

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the WIDA ELD Standards?

The five English Language Development Standards of the WIDA ELD Standards Framework, 2020 Edition: Language for Social and Instructional Purposes, Language Arts, Mathematics, Science and Social Studies.

How many WIDA ELD Standards are there?

Five: one for social and instructional language and four for the language of content areas.

Where can I find the WIDA ELD Standards PDF?

On wida.wisc.edu, as a full K-12 framework and as separate PDFs for each grade-level cluster: K, 1, 2-3, 4-5, 6-8 and 9-12. All are linked in the table above.

What are the WIDA Key Language Uses?

Narrate, Inform, Explain and Argue, the four genre families that appear most across content areas.

Is the 2020 Edition the current WIDA standards?

Yes. It replaced the 2012 Amplification, and ACCESS for ELLs has incorporated it since 2025-2026.

What are the four Big Ideas of the WIDA framework?

Equity of Opportunity and Access, Integration of Content and Language, Collaboration among Stakeholders, and a Functional Approach to Language Development.

Related Resources

• WIDA Key Language Uses
• WIDA Levels Explained
• WIDA Language Charts
• WIDA Can Do Descriptors
• Complete Guide to WIDA
• Language Objectives and SIOP Lesson Plans

Conclusion

The WIDA ELD Standards are five standards, four Key Language Uses and a set of Language Expectations and Proficiency Level Descriptors for each grade-level cluster. The grade-level PDFs are free, the 2020 Edition is the current version, and ACCESS now measures against it. Districts that put the cluster documents in every content teacher’s hands get the most from them.

Sources: WIDA, ELD Standards Framework; WIDA ELD Standards Framework, 2020 Edition; Grades 2-3 edition and Grades 4-5 edition (© 2021); WIDA ACCESS in 2025-26; WIDA Screener. PDF links verified September 28, 2026.

The Standards Describe the Language. Students Still Have to Produce It.

The Expressive Language Expectations ask students to narrate, explain and argue out loud and in writing, at grade level. Reading the expectation takes a teacher a minute; producing that language takes a student hundreds of attempts.

Writing can be practiced by a whole class at once. Speaking cannot: in a class of twenty-five, each student gets little time to talk, and that is the Speaking Time Gap.

Some districts add speaking practice that follows the same goals and does not wait for the teacher’s turn. Telo AI is one example: five-minute sessions three times a week, including lesson practice and skill training that push students past one-word answers, with progress reported on a dashboard mapped to WIDA. See how that works across a school year.

The standards set the target. Practice closes the distance.