ELP Assessment Update [July 23, 2021]
The heat of summer is upon us and as we enjoy the beauty of the season, the time to begin looking forward to the school year has come.
The administration window will open for the WIDA Online Screener and WIDA Kindergarten Screener on August 9, 2021.
Washington will be testing all students who are required to screen on grade level regardless of grade level or enrollment date.
There is currently no alternate Screener available. Students with the most significant cognitive disabilities who are potentially eligible for ELD services must take the WIDA Online Screener or the WIDA Kindergarten Screener to make that determination.
OSPI is ordering materials for the Kindergarten Screener. When orders are finalized materials will be sent directly to districts. We are anticipating that materials for kindergarten screening will be available when the screener launches on August 9.
Kindergarten students will be screened in all four language domains.
All test administrators will need to complete training prior to administering any screener tests. Training is based on grade level, so it is likely that TAs will need to complete multiple scorer trainings if they are administering the test to students in different grade bands. TAs must score 80 percent or above on the quizzes to pass the training.
DACs can send the WIDA help desk a spreadsheet with names and emails and WIDA will do a single upload to create accounts in your district. DACs can also create accounts for district personnel one-by-one using the Account Creator button in the WIDA Secure Portal.
The WIDA Secure Portal will be updated and launched anew on September 1. At this time, any “in progress” trainings will be lost. All completed trainings will be reflected in the new portal when it is launched.
When the new portal is launched, the quizzes associated with training will be integrated, so a test administrator who is only administering the test and not scoring, can complete the test administration portion of the training and have a record of that completion. Currently, only scorer training has a record of completion.
To help districts plan for August, we are providing some information below that may be useful.
Training and Administration:
- DACs must give TAs permission in the WIDA Secure Portal to access the Screener trainings. To do this, DACs can select Online Screener Training and/or Kindergarten Screener Training permissions when they create an account for staff or use the Account Management and Training Status button to adjust permissions of staff who already have accounts.
- WIDA test administrator trainings will take approximately three hours. If test administrators are completing both writing and speaking scorer training for on grade level/band it will be closer to five hours. Additional grade level scorer training typically takes less time to complete.
- Reading and Listening tests are scored automatically by the DRC system for grades 1 through 12.
- Speaking and Writing are scored locally in all grades. The speaking domain is scored by the TA during testing. The writing section is scored after the student has completed the domain in grades 1 through 12. TAs can be trained to score either or both the writing and speaking domains.
- The Kindergarten Screener is a one-to-one test administration. The TA for the Kindergarten Screener will score the entire test. The TA must complete both training quizzes prior to August 31 in order for the completed training status to roll over to the new Secure Portal. TAs who do not complete training prior to August 31 will need to restart their training in the new portal once it opens on September 1.
OSPI is working on an extension of the required 10-day testing window to 30 days from the time a student begins attending school.
If you have questions about WIDA Screener, you are welcome to email Leslie Huff at any time. Leslie will also host 3 Open Zoom calls if you would like to join. There is no agenda for these calls, they are for district staff to ask questions of OSPI or share strategies with each other. If you would like Leslie to host a topic-specific Zoom call, please email her at leslie.huff@k12.wa.us.
Open Zoom Call Schedule
- August 4 from Noon to 1:00 (https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83480352168)
- August 9 from noon to 1:00 (https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87277978873)
- August 16 from 1:00 to 2:00 (https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81243636270)
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