New Kindergarten ACCESS for ELLs® Assessment and Training Updates

New Jersey’s required annual English language proficiency assessment, ACCESS for ELLs®, went into effect in May 2006. The assessment has been revised for kindergarten English language learners. This revised assessment will be operational for the 2008-2009 school year during the spring testing window. The online training test administrator training has been updated to prepare educators for the new test format. There is a mandatory online training that must be completed by everyone who will administer the test. This online training course is now available at: http://wida.us/login.aspx.

ACCESS for ELLs® test administration may only be conducted by certified teachers who complete and pass the online training. Test administrators of the kindergarten test must complete the new online training as changes have been made to the test. Anyone who took the previous kindergarten online training is no longer certified to administer the kindergarten assessment since the test format is completely different.

Face-to-face trainings will be provided by the New Jersey Department of Education on February 3, 4, and 5 2009. Please see: http://education.state.nj.us/events/ to register for these trainings. This training does not replace the mandatory online training in any way; although the face-to-face training is not mandatory, it will provide an overview of the new test format and test administration. Districts are highly encouraged to send two representatives to one of the February training sessions.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the Office of Student Achievement and Accountability at lep@doe.state.nj.us. The WIDA Help Desk is also available for questions regarding the online training at 1-866-276-7735 or help@wida.us. Thank you for your cooperation.