Question of the Week
Q: When will the 2025-2026 WIDA ACCESS Test Manuals be available?
A: The WIDA ACCESS Test Administrator Manual (TAM), District and School Test Coordinator Manual, and Test Administrator Essentials have been updated for the 2025-2026 testing year and are now available in the WIDA Secure Portal. Here are some key updates:
- WIDA ACCESS now reflects the WIDA ELD Standards Framework, 2020 Edition. Learn what this means in the Behind the scenes of WIDA ACCESS article on the WIDA website.
- Kindergarten ACCESS has been completely redesigned. Check out section 4 of the TAM for more details and enroll in the new training course later this month.
- Streaming audio is available in WIDA Assessment Management System (AMS) for districts administering WIDA ACCESS Paper. Review section 5 of the TAM for more information about this option.
Please Note: ACCESS manuals are considered secure test materials and should not be posted on public-facing websites.
For questions, please contact Chris Williams.
Kentucky Alternate Assessment Program – Career Work Experience Certification (CWEC) Training / Quiz Open
The 2025-26 CWEC administrator training and quiz opened in the Online Training System (OTS) on Friday, Sept. 5. Please visit the Kentucky Alternate Assessment Program (KAAP) OTS for access to the CWEC training and quiz. Districts and schools should continue to maintain supporting evidence for the Employability Skills Attainment Record (ESAR) and CWEC in the Career Ready Alternate Assessment Folder (CRAAF). Refer to the Working with Exceptional Children in CTE web page on the KDE website for additional resources, including the CWEC Administration Guide and District CWEC Checklist. Refer to the Kentucky Alternate Assessment Program Calendar for more details related to CWEC, ESAR and the Career Readiness Database (CRD).
For any questions regarding the career readiness opportunities for students in an alternative high school diploma course of study or alternate assessment, please contact Sherri Craig in the Office of Career and Technical Education.
WIDA Featured Resource: Supporting Multilingual Newcomers
Multilingual newcomers come to the classroom with unique cultural and linguistic assets while also possessing distinct academic, social-emotional and linguistic needs. Let these resources from WIDA support educators and the multilingual newcomers this year:
- In the 2025 WIDA Webinar: Strategies for Supporting Multilingual Newcomers, learn about the latest trends related to multilingual newcomers, engage in research-backed approaches centering the learning, and participate in goal-setting for future programming with multilingual newcomers and the families in mind.
- In Five strategies to welcome newcomers into the classroom, WIDA experts share resources and strategies to learn more about the newcomer students’ assets, create intentional classroom practices, collaborate with colleagues and create safe spaces for the newcomer students inside and outside the classroom.
- Revisit a discussion between Tim Boals, WIDA founder, and Sam Finn, director of newcomer policy and practice at Californians Together, in this Conversations with Tim from April 2023. Both discuss Sam’s research and experience on how to support newcomer students and the
Ready to learn more? Check out WIDA’s self-paced workshop Newcomers: Promoting Success Through Strengthening Practice. Learn more about the workshop and how to enroll on the WIDA website under the WIDA Secure Portal.
For questions, please contact Chris Williams.
Experts Answer WIDA Language Charts Questions
In a new article about the WIDA Language Charts, Lynn Shafer Willner and Margo Gottlieb, creators of the charts, answer questions from educators about the WIDA Language Charts and how they relate to WIDA ACCESS and end-of-unit classroom assessment.
For questions, please contact Chris Williams.
WIDA Assessment Training Course Reminders for 2025-2026
Assessment training courses are now available for the 2025-2026 WIDA ACCESS testing year! To get started, log in to the WIDA Secure Portal and select Assessment Training. Locate the course and click Enroll Now. Here are some important reminders:
- All district and school staff who work with the screeners and assessments have to certify annually. Visit Kentucky's member/state page for more information.
- With a new WIDA ACCESS Speaking Scoring Rubric for Grades 1-12, there are new Speaking Scoring courses for WIDA ACCESS Paper. Make sure all district and school staff enroll in the correct course(s) – training and certification for WIDA ACCESS Paper Speaking is now separate from WIDA Screener and ACCESS Braille. Review the Assessment Training Course Changes section of the What to know: WIDA assessments in the 2025-2026 school year article to learn more.
- WIDA ACCESS for Kindergarten has been completely redesigned, and so has its training course! To make sure WIDA included plenty of example videos, scoring practice and samples, WIDA needed a little more time to get the brand new WIDA ACCESS for Kindergarten: Administration and Scoring training course ready. Test administrators can complete training for WIDA ACCESS for Kindergarten beginning Monday, Sept. 29.
For questions, please contact Chris Williams.
Educators and Students to Participate in WIDA ACCESS Writing Tryouts
WIDA and the test development partners at the Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL) are excited to invite educators and students to participate in the upcoming WIDA ACCESS Writing Tryouts. Tryouts will take place Dec. 8-19 and are a unique opportunity for educators and students to be a part of the WIDA ACCESS test development process.
Visit CAL’s website to learn more about the WIDA ACCESS Writing Tryouts opportunity. To apply, complete the participation survey (on the website) by Friday, Sept. 19 at 5 p.m. ET.
For questions, please contact Chris Williams.
Reminder: Upcoming WIDA Assessment Webinars
Please join WIDA and Data Recognition Corporation (DRC) to learn about the following assessment topics:
-
WIDA ACCESS for New Test Administrators Tuesday, Sept. 9 at 1-2 p.m. CT
-
WIDA ACCESS for New District Test Coordinators Thursday, Sept. 11 at 1-2 p.m. CT
Learn more and add these upcoming webinars to the calendar on the Webinars page (login required).
Can’t make it? The recordings for Assessment Webinars are posted to the WIDA Secure Portal on the Webinars page within a week of the presentation. For questions, please contact Chris Williams.
|
