Question of the Week
Q: When will the 2026 KSA and AKSA ISRs arrive in districts?
A: The Individual Student Reports (ISRs) from the Spring 2026 Kentucky Summative Assessment (KSA) and Alternate Kentucky Summative Assessment (AKSA) will be available in PearsonAccessnext (PAN) under Spring 2026 Summative Published Reports beginning today, Monday, Sept. 21.
Pearson will begin mailing paper ISRs on Wednesday, Sept. 30, and all districts should receive them by Wednesday, Oct. 6. Districts are provided with two copies of each report: one for the district and one to be shared with parents or guardians.
ISRs contain individual student data protected by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and are therefore not subject to embargo. Districts are encouraged to share these reports with families as soon as possible.
For questions, please contact Jessica Brumley.
Introducing New WIDA Tools that Simplify Language Instruction
Simplify the language educators use with students using two new tools grounded in the Key Language Uses (KLUs) of the WIDA English Language Development (ELD) Standards Framework. Exploring Key Language Uses Across Content Areas helps educators better understand the different text types within each KLU and quickly identify relevant examples. Aligned with this tool, Discovering Text Purposes Through the WIDA Key Language Uses helps students identify the purpose of a text and understand how authors use language to communicate different uses and meanings.
For questions, please contact Chris Williams.
WIDA Resources and Reminders for Back-To-School
This Back-to-School article has everything you need to know about WIDA assessments, resources for the classroom and professional learning opportunities for the 2026-2027 school year.
For questions, please contact Chris Williams.
Resources to Prepare Students and Staff for WIDA ACCESS
Give students the opportunity to practice answering the types of questions the student will encounter on WIDA ACCESS Online, WIDA ACCESS Paper, WIDA ACCESS Braille and WIDA Alternate ACCESS. Find sample items, suggested sample item scripts and links to other online test preparation resources on the WIDA ACCESS Test Practice and Sample Items page and on the WIDA Alternate ACCESS Sample Items page.
New for 2026-2027:
- ACCESS Online test demos and test practice are once again available in WIDA AMS Public Test Resources. In case staff missed it, WIDA made some accessibility updates to WIDA ACCESS Online. Visit the ACCESS Test Practice and Sample Items page to view the updated test demo, test practice and sample items.
- Starting this year, students taking ACCESS Online will control the start of the audio on each screen. Students can now select the Play button on each screen that contains audio when they’re ready to listen. Because the audio will no longer play automatically, make sure to schedule time to let students practice this, so the students are ready to go on test day.
Looking for family engagement resources? Visit the Resources to Share with Families section on the WIDA ACCESS page of the WIDA website for flyers that explain WIDA ACCESS and WIDA Alternate ACCESS in several languages.
For questions, please contact Chris Williams.
Upcoming WIDA Assessment Webinar
Please join WIDA and DRC to learn about the following topic:
- Ordering WIDA ACCESS Materials in WIDA AMS Tuesday, Sept. 22 at 1 p.m. CT
Learn more and add this upcoming webinar to your calendar on the Webinars page (login required). WIDA Assessment Webinars typically take an hour.
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.
WIDA Assessment Events
Every year, WIDA asks the WIDA community to participate in both in-person and virtual events and activities that help WIDA review and refresh the assessment tools. WIDA values the unique perspectives and range of experiences that educators bring to test items, and WIDA revises test items based on the feedback from the field.
This school year, WIDA has two event participation surveys educators can fill out:
- Annual assessment event participation survey (this covers the general assessment events)
- Alternate assessment event participation survey (this covers the alternate assessment events)
Find both participation surveys on the Building a WIDA Assessment page (in the Educator Involvement section). WIDA will contact selected participants on a rolling basis throughout the 2026-2027 school year.
For questions, please contact Chris Williams.
Reminder: DAC QC Day Nondisclosure Form Submission
In preparation for Quality Control (QC) Day, District Assessment Coordinators (DACs) will need to download and complete the QC Day Nondisclosure Form, then save it electronically. Nondisclosures saved should be uploaded to the DAC Nondisclosure Submission Form by the close of business on Tuesday, Sept. 22. Only DAC Nondisclosure Forms are required; all other nondisclosure forms should be retained at the district level. A nondisclosure must be submitted via the submission form to have access to data on QC Day; email submissions will not be accepted.
For questions, please contact DAC Info.
|
