AI in Education

Benchmarks: Know Where Your Students Stand Before It’s Too Late To Act

Austin Meusch
Feb 26, 2026
5 min read

Most language programs share the same goal: help students make measurable progress toward proficiency.

The challenge is timing. If you only get proficiency data after a major testing cycle, you often learn something important when there’s not much time left to respond.

Benchmarks is designed to help you check progress earlier and more often, so you can spot needs sooner, adjust instruction, and support students while the school year is still moving.

The Problem With Most Proficiency Data

In many schools, proficiency data arrives in one of two ways:

  • It comes late, after an official testing window is over.
  • It comes piecemeal, spread across spreadsheets, rubrics, and disconnected assessments.

Either way, the result is often the same: you learn something useful, but not in time to act on it.

Benchmarks is built around a simpler idea. Proficiency data matters most when it’s timely.

What Benchmarks Is

Benchmarks helps you run proficiency benchmarks and quickly see where students stand, across a classroom, a school, or an entire district.

The goal is not to replace official proficiency assessments. Benchmarks is meant to support practical decisions between testing cycles so you can respond to student needs sooner.

In practice, Benchmarks helps you:

  • Run a benchmark across classrooms, schools, or your full program
  • Get results quickly, with a clear view of where students currently stand
  • Track growth across the year and compare progress over time
  • Spot patterns across groups so you can plan support intentionally

Results That Are Easy To Use

A benchmark is only helpful if it leads to action.

Benchmarks is designed to give you a clear picture of progress without turning the process into a reporting project. Instead of exporting spreadsheets or stitching together multiple views, you get quick visibility into what students can do now and what they likely need next.

One Benchmark, Every Level

Consistency matters when you’re running a benchmark across multiple classrooms.

Benchmarks is designed so you can run the same benchmark across a school or district and get one shared snapshot. That makes it easier to:

  • Compare patterns across classrooms and schools
  • Align instructional planning across a department or program
  • Make decisions based on a consistent framework, not inconsistent scoring

Choose The Standard That Matches Your Program

Benchmarks lets you choose a standards framework so results align with the language proficiency system your program already uses.

Available frameworks include:

  • WIDA English Language Development Standards
  • ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines
  • California English Language Development Standards
  • Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR)
  • English Language Proficiency Assessment for the 21st Century (ELPA21)
  • Interagency Language Roundtable Scale (ILR)
  • New York State English as a Second Language Achievement Test (NYSESLAT)
  • Texas English Language Proficiency Assessment System (TELPAS)
  • WIDA English Language Development Standards – Elementary (K–5)

This helps ensure the benchmark reflects the expectations your teachers and students are working toward, and makes results easier to interpret in context.

Compare Across The School Year

Benchmarks is designed to help you run benchmarks at different points in the year and see how proficiency shifts over time.

That’s when patterns become visible:

  • Are students progressing steadily or stalling?
  • Which skills are improving fastest?
  • Which groups need additional support right now?
  • Are recent instructional changes moving the needle?

These are the kinds of questions that matter most before major testing windows.

Ask Questions, Get Answers

Sometimes you don’t need a report. You need a quick answer.

Benchmarks is designed to help you check trends across groups, levels, or time frames so you can move from “We think” to “We know” without needing extra training.

What Benchmarks Is Not

Benchmarks is not meant to replace official proficiency assessments.

It’s designed to support decisions between testing cycles, when you still have time to adjust pacing, target supports, and respond to student needs.

Who Benchmarks Is For

Benchmarks is especially helpful for people responsible for progress across many students, such as:

  • Department chairs and instructional coaches
  • District leaders and coordinators
  • School leaders supporting language programs
  • Teacher teams who want shared visibility across classes

If you’re trying to understand progress across multiple classrooms, Benchmarks is designed to give you one clear picture without extra overhead.

Austin Meusch
February 26, 2026
5 min read

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