ELP Assessment Update [January 4, 2022]
Welcome to 2022! We hope your break from school was fulfilling and rejuvenating for your spirit. At the end of January, we will open our ELP testing window, so we are on the homestretch with regards to test preparation.
Account Rollover
In December, DRC rolled over accounts from screener testing in WIDA AMS, so everyone who had accounts in WIDA AMS for screening should now have accounts in the annual WIDA testing window. All accounts will roll over with the default permissions assigned to that role. If you have additional permissions assigned to individuals outside of the default, those permissions will need to be reinstated for the annual window.
Student Management
On January 5, students who were included in the CEDARS file pulled on December 14 will be available in WIDA AMS and you can begin student management activities within the system. Student management includes adding/editing students, creating test sessions, and other activities.
If you have a large number of students to add to WIDA AMS, OSPI is working on a download option through WAMS that may help alleviate some of the burden on districts. We anticipate this option will be available early next week. There are some important considerations:
- If your CEDARS data has been cleaned up since December 14, this option will be useful. If CEDARS data does not accurately reflect your ELD student population, then the download tool will not be helpful.
- If you want to use the download tool, refrain from doing any student management activities in WIDA AMS until after you have uploaded students using the tool.
- We recommend only using the download tool once. We plan to make it available until January 27 and recommend that you only use it once and then switch to direct entry in WIDA AMS.
Our data team will kick off Lunch with Leslie on January 10 (link below) to outline this new tool and how it could be used.
All initial materials are based on the pull from December 14. Any students added to WIDA AMS beginning January 5 will have no materials associated with their test record creation. Materials for students added to WIDA AMS on or after January 5 should be ordered through the Additional Materials Order window which opens on January 19.
Materials will arrive in districts on January 19 or 20. Additional materials will need to be ordered through the Additional Materials Ordering Window in WIDA AMS. The window will open on January 19 for additional materials.
If you need yellow school/district labels for paper materials that do not have student-specific labels, please email your request to ELPAssessments@k12.wa.us after January 19. You will need to provide the following information for each school:
- District Name:
- District Code:
- School Name:
- School Code:
- District Coordinator Name:
- District Coordinator Email:
- Shipping Address:
- Number of labels needed (come in sheets of 10):
OSPI has created a survey to identify a pool of educators from which a workgroup will be formed to recommend exit criteria for the WIDA ACCESS for ELLs assessment. The WIDA ACCESS for ELLs assessment is the annual assessment used to measure English language proficiency. The work group will meet over a series of days in April to explore materials and determine at what level of proficiency, based on the assessment, a student would become ineligible for continued English language development services. We are trying to create a diverse work group that represents various grade levels, experiences, geographic areas, and language families, we are asking that you respond to a variety of questions about yourself and your professional experience on this survey if you are interested in being considered. https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/6596547/WIDA-Exit-Criteria-Participation-Survey-2022
Please note, at this time we do not know the exact times and dates of the work and we do not know how many days the work will last. If you are selected for the work group, you are welcome to accept or decline the invitation. Filling out this survey is not a commitment to join the work group, but an offer to be included in the pool of educators from which the workgroup will be formed.
Please join us for Lunch with Leslie on Mondays at noon. This is a good place to ask your questions about the upcoming annual WIDA assessments and to learn about specific components of the WIDA AMS system. Topics and links are below.
January 10 at noon: Topic: New Download Tool OSPI is developing and WIDA Materials https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87803126596
January 18 at noon (Tuesday): Topic TBD. https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83895540895
January 24 at noon: Topic TBD: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87877429371
We are in the final weeks of preparation before we kick off the first test of our second testing season of the school year. This has been a challenging year for everyone. OSPI is here to support schools and districts through the time. Thank you for the time and energy you devote to administering assessments so we can learn about students and schools. We know it is not easy. Please reach out when you need any support or have questions.
ELPAssessments@k12.wa.us:
- general questions about ELP assessments
- labels for WIDA assessments
- Braille materials
- WIDA Secure Portal access (for DACs only. Others please contact your DAC)
Leslie.huff@k12.wa.us
- Questions about ELP testing policy
- WIDA AMS accounts (for DACs only. Others please contact your DAC).
- Questions about training
- Questions about ELP pages on OSPI Website or WA WIDA page
assessment@k12.wa.us
- Questions about ARMS
- Questions about Test Security Training
wida@datarecognitioncorp.com
- Technology questions about testing
- Testing platform
- WIDA-AMS
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