ACCESS for ELLs and Alternate

ACCESS for ELLs

Academy for New System Test Coordinators 2013Susan BeardAlabama 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 OVERVIEW5 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 BEGINNING DEVELOPING EXPANDING BRIDGING

1 2 3 4 5

Tier A (levels 1 - 3)

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

REACHING6

ADMINISTRATION• 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

Session 1 (75 minutes total)• Listening (25 mins.)• Reading (35 mins.)• Distribution (15 mins.)

Session 2 (75 minutes total)• Writing (60 mins.)• Distribution (15 mins.)

Session 3 ( About 15 minutes)Speaking

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

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BREAKDOWN OF TEST BOOKLETS

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1-2A

1-2B

1-2C

3-5A

3-5B

3-5C

6-8A

6-8B

6-8C

9-12A

9-12B

9-12C

***Kindergarten is not tiered***

KINDERGARTEN ADMINISTRATIONIndividually 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

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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 SpeakingPart 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***** 11

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

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ONLINE TRAININGOnline 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

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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 toSusan BeardFor 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 TOOLKITwww.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

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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

QUESTIONS ???????????

Contact:Student Assessment

Susan Beardsbeard@alsde.edu

334-242-8038

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