ACCESS for ELLs and Alternate ACCESS for ELLs Academy for New System Test Coordinators 2013 Susan Beard Alabama State Department of Education

WHAT IS ACCESS? English language proficiency test Assessing Comprehension and Communication in English State-to-State Standards based, criterion referenced English language proficiency test designed to measure English Learners’ (EL) social academic proficiency Used to monitor student progress in attaining English language on a yearly basis and allows teachers to determine when students have become English proficient Allows Alabama to meet the No Child Left Behind requirement for assessing ALL K-12 EL students for proficiency growth and academic progress Alabama is one of 33 states currently in a consortium with World-Class Instructional Design and Assessment (WIDA) Alabama has been administering ACCESS since 2005

TEST OVERVIEW 5 Areas 5 Grade-level Clusters 5 Proficiency Levels 4 Domains 3 Tiers Social and Instructional Language Kindergarten 1. Entering Reading Tier A: Covers levels 1-3 Language of Language Arts 1st – 2nd 2. Beginning Listening Tier B: Covers levels 2-4 Language of Mathematics 3rd – 5th 3. Developing Writing Tier C: Covers levels 3-5 Language of Science 6th – 8th 4. Expanding Speaking Language of Social Studies 9th – 12th 5. Bridging 6. Reaching *Kindergarten test is adaptive Overlapping ensures that test questions are not too hard or too easy

TIER STRUCTURE OF ACCESS ENTERING 1 BEGINNING 2 DEVELOPING 3 EXPANDING 4 BRIDGING 5 6 Tier A (levels 1 - 3) REACHING Tier B (levels 2- 4) Tier C (levels 3-5) Tier A: newly arrived students with little to no English language Tier B: students have acquired some literacy in English though have not yet reached grade level literacy Tier C: students have achieved grade level literacy and are expected to exit on ACCESS

ADMINISTRATION Session 1 (75 minutes total) Listening (25 mins.) Reading (35 mins.) Distribution (15 mins.) Session 2 (75 minutes total) Writing (60 mins.) Session 3 ( About 15 minutes) Speaking Listening, reading and writing are administered in a group setting The speaking test is administered individually and is the only test scored by the test administrator Each tier is administered separately

MEDIA DELIVERED LISTENING TEST Beginning 2013-14, the Listening subtest will be administered via CD CDs will be included in the test materials Systems may also choose to download the listening file from the computer by contacting MetriTech Pencil/Paper only and group administered

BREAKDOWN OF TEST BOOKLETS 1-2 A 1-2 B 1-2 C 3-5 A 3-5 B 3-5 C 6-8 A 6-8 B 6-8 C 9-12 A 9-12 B 9-12 C ***Kindergarten is not tiered***

KINDERGARTEN ADMINISTRATION Individually administered and scored by the Test Administrator About 45 minutes per student Use of manipulatives Adaptive assessment: questions are presented that the Test Administrator feels the student can reasonably respond to, based on responses from questions in previous levels

KINDERGARTEN OVERVIEW 6 Parts 5 Levels 4 Domains Narrative – 1. Entering Listening Part A: Listening and Speaking 2. Beginning Speaking Part B: Writing 3. Developing Writing Part C: Reading 4. Expanding Expository – 5. Bridging Reading Part D: Listening and Speaking Part E: Writing Part F: Reading

HOW LONG WILL EL STUDENTS BE ASSESSED WITH THE ACCESS ASSESSMENT ? EL students will continue to be assessed with ACCESS until they attain a 4.8 composite score. At that point, EL students are considered language proficient and will then enter a 2 year monitoring phase . During this time, EL students are monitored to ensure they are functioning in the mainstream without support.

DECISION PROCESS FOR EL STUDENTS TO PARTICIPATE IN STATE ASSESSMENTS Enrolled in a U.S. school for less than 12 months… must participate in the math subtest/subject-area test of the Alabama Alternate Assessment (AAA), ACT Aspire, ACT Explore, ACT Plan, and the Alabama High School Graduation Exam (AHSGE) must participate in the science subtest/subject-area test of the AAA, Alabama Science Assessment ( ASA), ACT Explore, ACT Plan, and the biology subject-area test of the AHSGE are not required to take the reading subtest/subject-area test of any of the above assessments must participate in the end-of-course assessments for any of the courses for which they are enrolled and receiving course credit will take all portions of the The ACT Plus Writing *****EL students enrolled for more than 12 months in a U.S. school will participate in all state assessments*****

WHAT IS ALTERNATE ACCESS FOR ELLS? An assessment of English language proficiency for students in grades 1-12 who are classified as EL and have significant cognitive disabilities Intended for EL students whose cognitive disabilities are severe enough to prevent meaningful participation on ACCESS for ELLs even with accommodations Individually administered pencil and paper test EL students who participate in Alternate ACCESS for ELLs will also participate in the AAA

ONLINE TRAINING alabama pinetree Online training is required for all Test Administrators All Test Administrators are required to create an account on the WIDA Web site at www.wida.us New Test Administrators will log in with the user name and the password Once logged in, users will be prompted to create a new user name and password alabama pinetree

TEST ADMINISTRATOR TRAINING Online training takes about 2 hours to complete. It does not have to be completed in one session. A passing score of 80% is required for each test. Certificates will be available and should be kept on file by the System Test Coordinator (STC). Test Administrators that have previously completed and successfully passed the online training course do not have to recertify. All personnel involved with ACCESS or Alternate ACCESS testing must also participate in training at the local level. STCs will have access to current and past online scores by creating a profile indicating their role as the Test Coordinator. ALL Test Administrators must participate in the new training for the media- delivered Listening test.

This certificate is awarded to Susan Beard For successful completion of the following quizzes in the ACCESS for ELLs® online test administrator training course, and s/he is hereby certified to administer the corresponding sections of the test to students: Test Background and Group Administered Components (7/30/10) The dates listed next to the quiz name indicate that the above named individual may administer the corresponding section of ACCESS for ELLs® during the same academic year. Please note that individual states within the WIDA Consortium may or may not require individuals to recertify as test administrators each academic year. For more information, please contact your state's educational agency or visit http://www.wida.us/

TRAINING TOOLKIT www.wida.us Resources available in the Training Toolkit are intended for use by trainers who will be facilitating face-to-face training sessions PowerPoints are not to be sent by email or posted to any site but may be copied and distributed

TEST DATES March 24 – May 2, 2014 for both assessments Ordering will take place between January 27 – February 21 for both assessments You will receive step-by-step instructions from MetriTech a few days prior to the ordering window

Contact: QUESTIONS ??????????? Student Assessment Susan Beard sbeard@alsde.edu 334-242-8038