ASSESSING COMPREHENSION AND COMMUNICATION IN ENGLISH STATE-TO-STATE (ACCESS)
WIDA ADVANCES ACADEMIC LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT FOR CHILDREN AND YOUTH WHO ARE CULTURALLY AND LINGUISTICALLY DIVERSE THROUGH HIGH QUALITY WIDA ENGLISH LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT STANDARDS (ELD), ASSESSMENTS, RESEARCH, AND PROFESSIONAL LEARNING FOR EDUCATORS. UTAH USES WIDA SCREENER FOR KINDERGARTEN.
(GRADES 1-12) IDENTIFY ENGLISH LEARNERS (ELS). ACCESS FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS (ELLS) IS GIVEN TO ALL EL STUDENTS DURING THE ANNUAL TESTING WINDOW TO MEASURE PROFICIENCY AND GROWTH TOWARD ACADEMIC LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY IN ENGLISH.
All who administer WIDA assessments must be certified. To become certified to administer and score Utah WIDA assessments, test administrators must annually complete the WIDA online training course for the appropriate assessment and grade span and score 80% or higher on the end-of-module quiz.
ACCESS TESTING REQUIREMENTS
ACCESS for ELLs Online is Utah's online summative assessment of EL students. It is developed and maintained by WIDA.
This assessment is administered for a number of purposes:
- to measure individual students' progress in achieving proficiency in speaking, listening to, comprehending, reading, and writing academic English,
- to determine the success of language development programs in individual schools and school districts, and
- to fulfill federal requirements of The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2015.
All EL students must be tested annually using the ACCESS assessment. When students earn a Proficiency Level of 5.0 or higher, they are considered fluent in English. Students are then re-designated to monitoring status for four years. Students are not required to take the ACCESS assessment during these four years of monitoring. The Local Education Agency (LEA/Summit Academy) may use appropriate data, evaluation, and team-based problem solving to consider reclassifying the student as EL if, while in monitoring status, the student demonstrates consistent and continued need for increased language support services.
For students in grades 1 through 12, LEAs are required to give WIDA Access for ELLs Summative Assessment. ACCESS Paper is allowable for students with specific needs (e.g. students with disabilities; recently arrived English Learners, such as immigrant and refugee students).
Students with significant cognitive disabilities who take Dynamic Learning Maps (DLM)/Utah Alternate Assessment (UAA) are eligible for WIDA Alternate Access for ELLs.
Students in Kindergarten are administered WIDA Kindergarten Access for ELLs.
SCREENER TESTING REQUIREMENTS
LEAs are required to administer a WIDA Screener to newly enrolled students who indicate on the home language survey that they speak any language other than English. Screener is available to LEAs all year; however, federal and state law requires that students must be administered Screener within 30 days of enrollment within the first month of school, and within 10 days of enrollment thereafter. Screener should only be administered once during a student's enrollment in Utah schools.
Students are eligible for EL services if they earn a score of 1-4.9 on Screener for grades K-12.
For students in grades 1 through 12, LEAs are required to give WIDA Screener Online. WIDA Screener Online is allowable for students with specific needs (e.g. students with disabilities; recently arrived English Learners, such as immigrant and refugee students). Both Screener online and Screener Paper are provided by Utah State Board of Education at no cost to LEAs.
Students in Kindergarten are given the WIDA Screener for Kindergarten
Screener: Available all year
Summit Academy
