WIDA Professional Development

WIDA professional development provides great information and strategies to support multilingual learners in Massachusetts public schools, and WIDA PDPs satisfy educator licensure renewal requirements. These DESE Sponsored courses are available at no cost to participants and are perfect for teams of teachers seeking impactful collaboration to support students' access to rigorous course content.

WIDA Self-Paced workshops can be accessed directly by Massachusetts educators with a WIDA Secure Portal account. Facilitated WIDA workshops are prioritized for high needs districts. Registration for all other MA educators will be available 3–4 weeks before each workshop begins.

A WIDA Secure Portal account is needed to access all WIDA workshops. An account can be obtained by a district WIDA account coordinator. If the district coordinator is unknown, David Parker can assist in identifying.

For more information about DESE-sponsored WIDA PD offerings, please contact David.E.Parker@mass.gov .

Self-paced Workshops

Choose any or all these modules:

Developing Language for Learning in Mathematics
Engaging Multilingual Learners in Science: Making Sense of Phenomena
Exploring the WIDA PreK-3 Essential Actions
Making Language Visible in the Classroom
Newcomers: Promoting Success through Strengthening Practice
Reframing Education for Long-term English Learners
Teaching Multilingual Learners Social Studies through Multiple Perspectives
WIDA ELD Standards Framework: A Collaborative Approach
Let's Play! Multilingual Children's Joyful Learning in PreK-3
Reading Comprehension Across Content Areas with Multilingual Learners
WIDA Español: Desarollando el español: Las expectativas del lenguaje
WIDA Español: Evaluaciones del desarrollo del lenguaje a nivel de salón — Classroom assessment for language development

Time Commitment: 1–40 hours from 9/1/2025 to 8/31/2026, depending on selected modules

PDPs: 1–40, based on selected modules

When Language and Disability Meet: Planning Instruction to Support Multilingual Learners Who Are Dually Identified

Participants will explore planning practices that support language development and accessibility through the Universal Design for Learning Guidelines while identifying collaboration practices that support the development of shared responsibility and advocacy.

Time Commitment: Two 90-minute webinars; 5 hours total
Section 1: 3/31/26 & 4/7/26 — both webinars: 3:30 – 5:00
Section 2: 4/2/26 & 4/9/26 — both webinars: 3:30 – 5:00
Please enroll here: WIDA When Language and Disability Meet Workshops 2026 .

Engaging Secondary Newcomers in Content-Area Literacy

Educators will explore key factors that influence literacy development in content areas, focusing on how to engage students in content learning.

Time Commitment: 1 day, in person
Waltham: December 9, 2025
Worcester: December 10, 2025

Last Updated: September 9, 2025