EL Assessment Update: January 31, 2025
Happy New Year! Included in this update are important reminders and information regarding the 2025 ACCESS for ELLs testing window.
Paper materials should have arrived in schools on January 2, 2025. Please review your materials shipment to ensure you have sufficient supplies for testing. 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.
Schools are required to test English learner students who enroll during the ACCESS testing window on or before February 7. If necessary, additional materials may be ordered in WIDA AMS for students enrolled after the October SIMS submission. The overage of materials included in the initial shipment to schools should be used prior to placing any additional materials orders. Schools should limit additional materials orders to one per school during the testing window.
Students may be tested prior to the close of the testing window on February 14.
Yellow district/school labels, which are used to return student response materials for students without Pre-ID 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 request them. Materials without labels will not be processed.
Schools are encouraged to return the writing test booklets for Grades 1–3 to DRC as soon as most of their testing is completed. Returning materials early helps support the scoring and timely reporting of results.
Schools are reminded of the increased bandwidth required for administering the listening test. To prevent potential lags during the ACCESS listening test, please ask your technology staff to assist you in taking the following steps:
If problems arise, please call DRC at 855-787-9615 for further options.
Some students with disabilities who take the ACCESS test require accommodations on MCAS tests or in the classroom that are not allowed on the ACCESS test. In such rare cases, the student may need to be exempt from an ACCESS domain due to the unavailability of a necessary accommodation (e.g., a student whose IEP team has determined needs the "special access" read-aloud accommodation on the MCAS ELA test). In instances like these, the test administrator would mark SPD in the Do Not Score code section in WIDA AMS, and the student would not participate in the domain. The domain will also need to be marked "end incomplete."
The exemption for the ACCESS reading domain is only for students considered nonreaders who are determined by their IEP team to require the special access accommodation for human read-aloud/text-to-speech on the MCAS ELA test. Qualifying for a special access accommodation is considered to be rare and only for students with substantial deficits in the assessed area. Please see the criteria on page 25 of the Accessibility and Accommodations Manual for the 2025 MCAS Test Administrations .
As much as possible, students should take all domains of the ACCESS test that they are able to, as required by law. Scores on the ACCESS test domains are critical when determining the student's level of English proficiency, level of growth, and areas where support or further instruction may be necessary.
2025 ACCESS for ELLs Test Coordinator Training Workshop Slides Available
The ACCESS test coordinator training workshop, held four times in December, reviewed the format of the assessment, important dates and reminders, technology requirements and considerations, test administration procedures and training requirements, and the latest updates for the current year's administration.
The PowerPoint slides for the training can be found on the MA State page of the WIDA website under Manuals, Guides and Workshops: Part 1 ; Part 2 ; Part 3 .
Thank you for your attention to these important matters. Please email access@mass.gov with questions about ACCESS testing and policy matters. Please share this and future EL Assessment Updates with staff who will be involved with ACCESS testing.
Contact Student Assessment Services with any policy questions about ACCESS for ELLs testing at access@mass.gov or by phone at 781-338-3625. Contact DRC Customer Support at 855-787-9615 or wida@datarecognitioncorp.com with questions on logistics.
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education 135 Santilli Highway, Everett, MA 02149
Voice: (781) 338-3000 TTY: (800) 439-2370
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