ACCESS English Language Proficiency Assessment

All Multilingual Learners (NEP and LEP), including students with disabilities, must participate in the state English language proficiency assessment system. The educational team (IEP, 504, or ML), which must include the parents, determines whether the student will take ACCESS with or without accommodations or, for a student with the most significant cognitive disability, meets the participation requirements for the alternate assessment. According to federal requirements, there must be evidence of alignment between a student’s educational plan, instruction, and the accommodations provided on any of the state assessments, as well as any determinations for students to participate in Alternate ACCESS. Three participation options exist:

1. The student participates in WIDA ACCESS or WIDA ACCESS for Kindergarten without an accommodation.
2. The student participates in WIDA ACCESS or WIDA ACCESS for Kindergarten with an accommodation*.
3. The student participates in Alternate ACCESS for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities.

Note: It is neither appropriate nor ethical to provide Alternate ACCESS to students who do not qualify to take the assessment.

*Accommodations are practices and procedures that provide equitable access during instruction and assessment for students who have a documented need, including students with a disability and English learners. In order to use accommodations on state testing, accommodations must be determined by the student’s educational team and documented in the student’s IEP, 504, or ML plan.

• Kindergarten (paper-based)
• ACCESS grades 1-12 (computer-based and paper-based)
• Alternate ACCESS grades K-12, for students with IEPs written to the Extended Evidence Outcomes (paper-based)

Students new to a district with a primary or home language other than English must be screened.

• Parent notification of eligibility for ELD programming must occur within 30 days from the beginning of the school year.
• Throughout the remainder of the school year, the process must happen within two weeks of the student's enrollment.

The determination of ELD program placement is made at the district level.