ACT-Schools have established and should be entering their accommodations into ACT’s Test Accessibility and Accommodations System. 

For more information, please read the following user guide: Test Accessibility and Accommodations (TAA) User Guide (PDF). If you have any questions, please call the customer support line at 1-800-553-6244 ext. 1788.

Aspire-If you are a district testing coordinator, you should have received an initial log in email from admin@actaspire.org. If you have not received this email or have any questions, please contact Jessica Steinbrenner at Jessica.steinbrenner@wyo.gov or at 307-777-8568.

Student information has been uploaded to the Aspire portal. In order to verify that the full-roster of students has been uploaded, please use the instructions below:

1. Access the portal and log-in at: https://www.actaspire.org/login
2. On the log-in page, there is a blue index toggle near the upper right corner of the screen. Click the toggle and select your school (or district) from the drop-down list. (There will be no perceivable change to the page.)
3. However, if you then hover over 'Students' on the toolbar, a drop-down menu will appear. On that menu select 'Find Students.'
4. After the page refreshes, go to the section titled 'BY SCHOOL DETAILS.' Click on the grade sections and select the grade(s) you would like to review. Then click 'Search.'

Please email Jessica Steinbrenner at Jessica.steinbrenner@wyo.gov or call 307-777-8568 for further assistance.

The additional materials ordering window for ACCESS for ELLs 2.0 will be available Wednesday, January 6, 2016 – Friday, February 26, 2016.  You may order additional testing materials needed via the WIDA AMS Additional Materials functionality.  Please use the overage materials provided before ordering additional materials.

For assistance with ordering, view the Additional Materials Ordering module posted in the ACCESS for ELLs 2.0 Training Course on the WIDA website (www.wida.us).  You may access the training course on the WIDA website home page by logging in at the top right, clicking ‘My Account & Secure Portal,’ and selecting the appropriate training course.

For in-depth instructions on ordering additional materials, please refer to the WIDA Assessment Management System (WIDA AMS) User Guide Part 2 (page 8) on the ACCESS for ELLs 2.0 Training Course.

Contact DRC Customer Service with any questions at WIDA@DataRecognitionCorp.com or 1-855-787-9615.

There will be two sessions held by ACT and WDE as opportunities for test coordinators to ask questions about the training videos that have are being posted on the Wyoming State Testing website, as the testing cycle progresses. The first one will be held on Thursday, January 28 at 3:00 p.m. MT.  A second session will take place on Tuesday, February 9 at 3:00 p.m. MT. All participants should have reviewed the training videos posted prior to the session they plan to attend. Registration information will be in the next newsletter.

Tech shortfalls limit equal access to a quality education for some Wyoming students. A comprehensive ed tech plan can help change this. The Wyoming Department of Education will be conducting a listening tour to gather information from school, business, postsecondary, and other community members about their ed tech ideas, needs, and hopes. This is your chance to help improve education technology access and use in Wyoming.

Join WDE Staff from 4 - 6 p.m. on these dates:

• Monday, January 25 - Evanston, WY
• Tuesday, January 26 -  Rock Springs, WY 
• Wednesday, January 27 -  Rawlins, WY
• Thursday, January 28 - Riverton, WY
• Monday, February 1 - Casper, WY
• Tuesday, February 2 -  Cody, WY 
• Wednesday, February 3 - Sheridan, WY 
• Thursday, February 4 - Gillette, WY
• Tuesday, February 9 - Laramie, WY 
• Wednesday, February 10 Cheyenne, WY 

For complete location information, please use the following link. 

Educational Testing Service (ETS) and the Wyoming Department of Education will be hosting Building Coordinator Training sessions at four locations to review the responsibilities of the Building Test Coordinator for the 2016 PAWS administration.

Training Dates 

• January 25 - Evanston (9 am - 11 am)
• January 26 - Laramie (1 pm - 3 pm)
• January 27 - Casper (9 am - 11 am, or 1 pm - 3 pm)
• January 29 - Sheridan (9 am - 11 am)

 Click here for more information.

The deadline for registration in January 14 at 12:00 pm.

INFRASTRUCTURE TRIAL OVERVIEW

Length: 30 minutes

This training introduces the Infrastructure Trial Tenant, a sandbox environment that allows districts and schools to practice using the Portal without affecting live student data.

During this 30 minute session, participants will learn to navigate the Aspire testing portal, create groups, set up testing sessions, use Proctor Caching, and more.  This trial is STRONGLY recommended for all districts in order to ensure you are ready to implement Aspire successfully from a technology infrastructure standpoint.

The Infrastructure Trial Guide is also currently available.

You will need to enter your email address to log-in on the ACT Aspire Training Management System.

For those of you looking for more information concerning the Aspire assessment please visit Training Management System (requires email to access) to access pre-recorded training videos. Here are a few we recommend watching at this time:

• TECHNOLOGY READINESS OVERVIEW
• PROCTOR CACHE PORTAL SETUP
• STUDENT DATA AND TEST SESSIONS OVERVIEW

You will need to log-in to ASPIRE TMS to access the videos.