English Language Development Standards

The following ELD standards are designed to assist classroom teachers in assessing the progress their English language learners (ELLs) are making toward attaining full fluency in English. Since the strategies used to help students attain proficiency in English differ with the age at which a student begins learning English, the standards include outcomes for students who begin learning English in kindergarten – grade 2, grades 3 – 5, grades 6 – 8, and grades 9 – 12. These grade-range standards were developed to help teachers move ELLs to full fluency in English and to proficiency on the California English-Language Arts (ELA) Standards. ELLs working at the Advanced proficiency level on the ELD standards are to demonstrate proficiency on all standards detailed in this document and all California ELA standards for the grades in which they are enrolled. ELLs working at the Intermediate proficiency level of these ELD Standards should demonstrate proficiency on the ELA standards for all prior grades. Teachers working with ELLs will need to work concurrently with this document and the English-Language Arts Content Standards for California Public Schools, Kindergarten Through Grade Twelve to ensure that this occurs.

These comprehensive standards also provide more detailed proficiency levels than were included in the Executive Summary. This refinement is needed so teachers can better assess the progress their students are making. The proficiency levels addressed are:

• Beginning
• Early Intermediate
• Intermediate
• Early Advanced
• Advanced
• skill Listening and Speaking
• skill Reading
• skill Writing