The DESE is now part of the WIDA Consortium. WIDA stands for World-Class Instructional Design and Assessment. It is an organization that has developed standards and assessments for our ELL students. These standards are based on the TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) standards and are aligned with the Common Core Standards. Along with assessing our ELL students, the WIDA provides very descriptive information as to what the classroom teacher can expect from their EL students in the form of Can Do Descriptors at each grade level.

Our EL students come from many different cultures. Some of these are Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Arabic, and Indian. Below are links that can provide you with more information about these cultures:

• Student Guide - The 50 best ESL Resources for kids
• OEDb - 50 Essential Resources for ESL Students
• Colorincolorado - A bilingual site for educators and families of English language learners
• Kidworldcitzen.org - Choose a country from a map of the world and learn about its culture, food,, music, crafts, celebrations, arts, etc.
• Spanish - Countries, nationalities, lesson plans, activities, language
• Chinese - University of San Diego’s resource site for teachers and tutors of English As a Second Language
• Russia - All about Russia - history, land, animals, artists, etc.
• Portugal - National Geographic website about facts, geography, nature, etc.

North Andover’s ELE Population is 97 students and is broken down into the following languages:

Requirements to obtain the SEI Endorsement

• Requirements prior to July 1, 2016
  
  Only core academic teachers who were assigned an ELL or administrators who supervise/evaluate core academic teachers who were assigned ELLs during their districts' cohort years are required to obtain the SEI Endorsement prior to July 1, 2016. Under 603 CMR 7.15 and 603 CMR 14.07 those CATs who were assigned an ELL at any point during their districts' cohort years and who fail to earn an SEI Endorsement by the time designated for their cohort, will not be eligible to renew, advance, or extend their educator license when it is due for such action until they earn an SEI Endorsement.
  
  Prior to July 1, 2016 a CAT who was never assigned an ELL during their district's cohort years is not required to earn the Endorsement
  
  
• Requirement after July 1, 2016
  
  After July 1, 2016, any un-endorsed CAT who is assigned an ELL will have 12 months from the time of that assignment to earn the SEI Endorsement.
  
  Please visit the DESE’s Retell Website for resources and information.