ACCESS for ELLs

EL Assessment Update: ACCESS for ELLs Important Reminders

Happy New Year! Included in this update are important reminders and information regarding the 2024 ACCESS for ELLs testing window.

Important Reminders

Test Materials and Additional Materials Ordering

DESE has preordered test materials for every school based on October SIMS. A copy of the "Pre-ID file" was placed in DropBox Central in the DESE Security Portal in the "ACCESS Data 2024" folder. The Pre-ID file includes all students to be tested, both online and on paper, as of schools' October SIMS submission.

Paper materials should have arrived in schools on January 3, 2024. Please review your materials shipment to ensure you have everything you need. If you did not receive materials, please contact DRC Customer Support at 855-787-9615 to request a UPS tracking number to locate the shipment.

If needed, additional materials may be ordered in WIDA AMS for students enrolled after the October SIMS submission. An overage of materials was included in the initial shipment to schools and should be used prior to placing any additional materials orders. The additional materials ordering window closes on February 9. Please attempt to limit your additional materials orders to one per school.

Yellow district/school labels were included in your initial materials shipment. Additional district/school labels will not be mailed with the shipment of your additional materials order. If additional district/school labels are needed, please email access@mass.gov to request them, and they will be mailed separately. Materials without labels will not be processed.

Test Registrations

Students in the Pre-ID file have been placed in generic test registrations in WIDA AMS. During the test setup window, schools should review these test registrations as follows:

• Go to in WIDA AMS under My applications and select Test Management.
• Confirm or enter your site criteria and click Save.
• Select ACCESS for ELLs in the Registration Window drop-down.
• In the View Registrations tab, locate the registration you want to review, and then click on the Registration Name to view details.
• To update demographic information, add students who are missing from the list, or remove students who have exited EL status or are no longer enrolled in the district, follow the instructions in the Online Help section, indicated by a question mark in the upper right corner of the page. Students who have exited EL status or are no longer enrolled in the district should be reported as such in the March SIMS.
• Note that changes made in WIDA AMS will override what was pre-loaded.

Test Monitoring Application for Online Tests

DRC's Test Monitoring Application will be available again this year. The application allows a test administrator or test coordinator to view students' progress as they participate in an online test session. Test administrators and test coordinators can use this feature to view a student's testing status, the screen the student is currently on, and the number of test items completed out of the total number of possible items. To use the Test Monitoring feature, it will need to be turned on in WIDA AMS under Test Monitoring before students log on to the test.

For help with setting up and using the Test Monitoring feature, see the Knowledge Article "What is Test Monitoring?" in WIDA AMS under My Applications > DRC Customer Service > Knowledge Articles.

Contact DRC Customer Support at 855-787-9615 or wida@datarecognitioncorp.com with questions.

Last Day to Test Newly Enrolled Students

Schools are required to test English learner students who enroll during the testing window on or before February 9. If paper materials are needed, the last day to order additional materials is February 9. Students may be tested prior to the close of the testing window on February 16.

Early Return of Grades 1–3 Writing Materials

Schools are encouraged to schedule Writing for grades 1–3 early in the window and return writing test booklets to DRC for Grades 1–3 Writing tests as soon as most of their testing is completed. Returning materials early helps support the scoring and timely reporting of results.

ACCESS Online Testing

Schools are reminded of the increased bandwidth required for administering the listening test. To prevent potential lags during the ACCESS listening test, please ensure testing devices are ready for students to begin ACCESS testing by asking your technology staff to assist you in taking the following steps:

• rebooting computers before students begin testing and running some sample items to test capacity
• staggering log-ins for students taking the listening test
• beginning with up to 10 students
• starting some students on the reading domain first to free up heavy bandwidth required in the listening test
• ensuring that all devices have the latest software versions installed and that all DRC URLs have been placed on allow lists
• after running some sample tests, consider rebooting again and confirm that cached memory is removed from the devices

If problems arise, please call DRC at 855-787-9615 for further options.

Thank you for your attention to these important matters. Please email access@mass.gov with questions about ACCESS testing and policy matters.

Effective January 2, our office is located at 135 Santilli Highway, Everett, MA 02149. Our phone numbers and email addresses remain the same.