Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System

ACCESS for ELLs Assessment Update: Preparation for Reporting ACCESS Results

To:	Principals and English Language Learner (ELL) Directors
From:	Dan Wiener, Administrator of Inclusive Assessment Alexis Glick, ACCESS for ELLs Program Specialist
Date:	April 15, 2015

Greetings and congratulations on completing the 2015 ACCESS for ELLs test administration earlier this winter, despite challenging weather conditions. Massachusetts schools can look forward to receiving electronic and printed test results from MetriTech, the test contractor, on or about June 1st. In preparation for reporting ACCESS results, we request that principals (or their designee) plan to review and, if necessary, correct your school's online demographic data, as described below, to ensure that reports for students in your school contain accurate information.

Demographic Data Correction Window

Between April 29 and May 5, principals will be asked to log on to a Demographic Data Validation site to correct any discrepancies in their student data for the following fields: Student Names, SASIDs, Dates of Birth, Grades, and "Not Tested" reasons. On April 28, principals will receive two emails from MetriTech: one with a user name and instructions for logging on to the Demographic Data Validation site in order to view and correct any data discrepancies; and another email sent the same day with the school's password.

Workshops on ACCESS for ELLs Reports

The Department is planning to conduct two half-day workshops on June 4 and June 5 from 8:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. on interpreting and using the WIDA score reports. Please save these dates. Registration information will be sent out in early May. Workshops will be limited to 250 participants. These sessions are intended for district ELL program coordinators, principals, test coordinators, and/or district data analysts. Additional information will be provided in May.

ACCESS for ELLs 2.0 Webinars

WIDA will present two one-hour webinars to prepare for the administration of ACCESS for ELLs 2.0, the new online assessment, in 2015–2016. These webinars will also be recorded and subsequently posted to the WIDA website.

ACCESS for ELLs 2.0 Overview Webinar will be held on Friday, April 24, from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. The purpose of this webinar is to provide Test Coordinators and Test Administrators with high-level information about the transition to the new online assessment, plans to provide training next fall, ordering procedures, and an opportunity to ask questions. The call in number is 1-415-655-0003 (access code is 668 275 982).
Technology Coordinator Initial Webinar will be held on Friday, May 1, from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m.. The purpose of this webinar is to provide Technology Coordinators with high-level information on planning and preparing for online ACCESS 2.0 assessments and an opportunity to ask questions. The call in number is 1-415-655-0003 (access code is 668 053 093).

ACCESS for ELLs 2014 results now available online

ACCESS for ELLs 2014 School and District Results

ACCESS 2.0 Field Test

ACCESS 2.0 field testing concluded on April 10th. We thank the staff and more than 1,200 students who participated, and hope the experience was beneficial to technology and test coordinators, as well as test administrators and students. Thank you for your attention to this important information. Please contact Alexis Glick at 781-338-3625 if you have questions.

Last Updated: April 29, 2015