Did you administer Alternate ACCESS for ELLs this year?

Please take a feedback survey to help us with the continual improvement of the assessment for future years.

Take the Feedback Survey

Federal law (NCLB, 2001) requires that all students identified as English language learners be assessed annually for English language proficiency. This requirement includes students who require special education services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). For the first time ever, an English language proficiency test developed specifically for students with significant cognitive disabilities, Alternate ACCESS for ELLs (Alternate ACCESS), is being given during the 2011-2012 testing cycle, starting in March, 2012.

Alternate ACCESS is an individually administered paper and pencil test. It is intended only for English language learners with significant cognitive disabilities severe enough to prevent meaningful participation in the ACCESS for ELLs assessment. Please note that Alternate ACCESS is not intended for ELLs who can be served with accommodations on ACCESS for ELLs. Decisions regarding a student's participation should be made by IEP teams. We are providing a Participation Criteria Checklist to inform this process. The test will be available for the 1-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12 grade clusters in March 2012.

A field test version of Alternate ACCESS for ELLs was initially developed by a team led by Craig A. Albers, Ph.D., at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in collaboration with the District of Columbia Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) with funds from USDE. The operational Series 100 assessment has undergone significant redevelopment at the Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL) in Washington, D.C., in collaboration with WIDA. For information about the grant research and outcomes, please visit the Alternate ACCESS grant's archived website.

Alternate ACCESS for ELLs is based on WIDA's Alternate Model Performance Indicators (AMPIs), which have been developed to augment WIDA's existing English Language Proficiency Standards to allow ELLs with significant cognitive disabilities to demonstrate language growth.

To learn more about WIDA's English Language Proficiency Standards please review the WIDA ELP Standards Tutorial. The Alternate MPIs can be downloaded at right.

Additional Alternate ACCESS for ELLs training materials include PowerPoint presentations that you can customize and use with other educators. The Introduction and Participation Criteria PowerPoints are available to anyone, but the "Administering Alternate ACCESS for ELLs" PowerPoint contains secure test information and therefore requires an online training course login. If you do not have a login and need information about how to obtain one, please contact help@wida.us.

For personal Alternate ACCESS for ELLs training, please watch the Test Administration Tutorial or recorded webinar from 1/23/12.

Coming soon! The online training course will contain the Test Administration Manual and a certification quiz for all test administrators.

Alternate ACCESS for ELLs is designed for ELLs with significant cognitive disabilities. In order to receive meaningful information from the test, it is very important that only students who meet all 3 criteria below participate in the assessment. Other ELLs should continue to take the existing ACCESS for ELLs assessment, with appropriate accommodations as necessary. Participation has to be decided by the student's IEP team.

Participation Criteria:

1. The student has been classified as ELL.
2. The student has a significant cognitive disability and is eligible for special education services under IDEA.
3. The student is in an alternate curriculum aligned with their state's academic standards, and is participating in the state's alternate accountability assessment.

Alternate ACCESS can be ordered along with ACCESS for ELLs test materials from MetriTech, Inc. via the established order process, beginning in October 2011. Please note that even though Alternate ACCESS will not be available until March of 2012, test materials should be ordered during the regular order windows for ACCESS for ELLs, if possible. However, MetriTech, Inc. will work with districts to accommodate later orders of Alternate ACCESS materials. Please note: During the 2011-12 testing season, Alternate ACCESS will NOT be available in all WIDA states. Please check with your SEA prior to ordering any test materials.

Download/Print the contents of this page

What is the Alternate ACCESS?

Alternate ACCESS is a paper and pencil test developed specifically for English language learners who have significant cognitive disabilities. For 2012, it will be available in four grade level clusters: Grades 1-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12. There will not be a Kindergarten form in 2012.

The test allows students to demonstrate their English language proficiency in all four language domains (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) and, for Form 100 (2012), in four of the five ELP standards (social and instructional language, and the language of language arts, mathematics, and science).

Alternate ACCESS is a single form per grade cluster; it is not a tiered test. Rather, it is intended to discriminate proficiency levels at the lower end of the WIDA proficiency level continuum. In other words, Alternate ACCESS items target the Alternate Levels A1 to A3 as described by the Alternate Model Performance Indicators (AMPIs) of the WIDA ELP Standards as well as Levels 1-3 as described by the MPIs of the WIDA ELP Standards.

For whom is Alternate ACCESS intended?

The test is intended to serve the needs of English language learners who have significant cognitive disabilities that prevent meaningful participation in the regular ACCESS for ELLs. A student with significant cognitive disabilities is identified as having one or more of the existing categories of disabilities under IDEA (e.g., intellectual disabilities, autism, traumatic brain injury, multiple disabilities, etc); and their cognitive impairments may prevent them from attaining grade level achievement standards, even with the best instruction. (adapted from U.S. Department of Education: Alternate Achievement Standards of Students with the Most Significant Cognitive Disabilities Non Regulatory Guidance, August 2005).

For whom is Alternate ACCESS not intended?

Students with disabilities who can be served with accommodations on the regular ACCESS for ELLs assessment should continue to participate in that assessment. Participation in the Alternate ACCESS assessment cannot be solely based on a student having an IEP alone, having a certain special education disability, having emotional or behavioral difficulties, having visual, auditory or physical disabilities, having excessive or extensive absences or social, cultural, or economic factors. Many of these factors may be taken into consideration when determining if the student meets participation criteria for the Alternate ACCESS but each of these factors alone cannot be the sole criterion for making the determination.

Who should administer Alternate ACCESS?

The test administrator:

• Must be teacher or licensed staff (e.g., Special Education Teacher, ELL Teacher, Paraprofessional, Speech Therapist, etc.)
• Have familiarity with the student, the student's needs, and the student's response and communication style

When will Alternate ACCESS be available?

Alternate ACCESS will be available beginning mid-March, 2012. We regret that it will not be available for administration during the regular testing window for states that test prior to March. However, WIDA and MetriTech, Inc. will work with states who would like to make the Alternate ACCESS available in their state outside of the regular testing window for 2012 so that all students who are eligible have an opportunity to participate in their annual ELP assessment in a meaningful way. The administration of Alternate ACCESS outside of a state's regular testing window will not have a negative impact on when score reports and data are available for ACCESS for ELLs.

How can Alternate ACCESS be ordered?

Alternate ACCESS can be ordered along with ACCESS for ELLs test materials from MetriTech, Inc. via the established order process, beginning in October 2011. Please note that even though Alternate ACCESS will not be available until March of 2012, test materials should be ordered during the regular order windows for ACCESS for ELLs, if possible. However, MetriTech, Inc. will work with districts to accommodate later orders of Alternate ACCESS materials. Please note: During the 2011-12 testing season, Alternate ACCESS will NOT be available in all WIDA states. Please check with your SEA prior to ordering any test materials.

How much will it cost?

For this first year, ACCESS for ELLs will be free of cost! All test administrator training materials will also be available via the WIDA website at no additional charge.

When and how will test administrator training be conducted?

Test Administrator training for the Alternate ACCESS is currently under development and final training resources will resemble what we currently have for ACCESS for ELLs. The following training resources, in addition to a test administration manual, will be developed:

1. Power Point presentations with facilitator notes for:
   - Introduction & Participation Criteria (who should take the test)
   - Administration procedures
   - Scoring and Interpretation
2. A recorded webinar and tutorial
3. Professional development workshops

Materials are being added to this website as they become available. Professional development workshops on this topic can be requested and scheduled after October.