Achievement District Test Coordinator Updates and Reminders
January 5, 2022 |
Achievement District Test Coordinators,
As we approach the Spring testing windows, the volume of phone calls and emails to our inboxes is increasing. We are working to respond to your inquiries as quickly as possible, but please remember that many questions are answered in these weekly emails as well as in documents that are posted on our website.
The Achievement District Test Coordinator (DTC) emails for this school year have now been and will continue to be posted on the DTC page of our website for your easy reference and access. Links to these emails are located under the "DTC Communications - 2021-2022 School Year" dropdown. Please note the "Special Email" regarding accommodations, which was sent to DTCs yesterday, has also been posted on this webpage.
In addition, to help speed up our response time to your inquiries, please remember the following:
- Include your district entity number on any emails to us. This helps to speed up the research process on our end as we work to get answers to your questions.
- Include the name of the assessment you have a question about - AASA, AzSCI, ACT, and/or ACT Aspire. This helps us to know which staff members can best assist you and also assists us with researching your questions.
Please see this week's updates and reminders regarding 2021-2022 Achievement testing below. This week, information is included for the following Achievement tests - AASA, ACT, and ACT Aspire. If you have any questions about the statewide achievement tests, please contact us at AASA@azed.gov or AzSCI@azed.gov. |
Training Modules
We have received several questions about the DTC training modules, which are available through Pearson's Training Management System (TMS): https://azachieve.tms.pearson.com/.
There are four training modules:
- AASA - required for all Achievement DTCs with Grades 3-8
- AzSCI - required for all Achievement DTCs with Grades 5, 8, and/or 11 (Cohort 2023)
- Accommodations - required for all Achievement DTCs with Grades 3-8 and/or 11
- Achievement Test Administration Responsibilities - required for all Achievement DTCs with Grades 3-8 and/or 11 and for all employees who will administer, proctor, or be in contact with Achievement test materials.
Achievement DTCs are responsible for ensuring that all testing staff have received training prior to administering any tests. This training must include, but is not limited to, the Achievement Test Administration Responsibilities training module. Testing staff may view this training module in TMS, or DTCs may present this module in a group setting. Either way, DTCs are responsible for tracking staff completion of training as well as ensuring that testing staff have the information they need, based on their user role(s), for any test(s) they will be administering.
Achievement DTCs with students in Grades 3-8: Please complete the DTC training modules by January 14, 2022.
Achievement DTCs with high school students only: Please complete the DTC training modules by February 4, 2022.
Please note there is not a separate training module for the AASA Writing Stand-Alone Field Test (SAFT). Because this field test is only for one content area, we were able to embed the SAFT information within the overall AASA training module. |
Pearson Technology Office Hours
Pearson is offering Technology Office Hours in 15 min., 30 min., or 60 min. sessions for district or school technology personnel responsible for setting up testing devices for online testing for the AASA Writing Stand-Alone Field Test, AASA, and/or AzSCI.
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AASA Writing Stand-Alone Field Test (SAFT)
All students in Grades 3-8 will participate in the AASA Writing SAFT.
Test Window: January 24 - February 18, 2022
Reminder: We also created a Writing SAFT FAQ document, which is posted on our website. All schools with students in Grades 3-8 will participate in the Writing SAFT.
Please remember that the Writing SAFT is a field test and not a practice test. NO items on a field test should be discussed! Test Security must be maintained!
Districts will receive paper copies of the Test Coordinator's Manual and Test Administration Directions for the AASA Writing SAFT. In addition, electronic copies of these manuals will be posted on the AASA page of our website as soon as they are available.
For paper-based testing schools, test materials (test booklets, Pre-ID labels, return shipping materials) will arrive in districts and charters January 10-13, 2022.
Work Requests
When a student transfers into your district or within schools in your district, the District Test Coordinator will need to submit a Work Request within PAN to have the student transferred from the releasing school to the new school. District Test Coordinators also need to check in PAN frequently to see if a Work Request is awaiting approval for any student transferring out of the district. Please see Page 42 of the PAN User's Guide for the detailed steps of this process.
There are currently 120 transfer requests in the state that are waiting for approval from the releasing school. When you log into PAN, if you have a red bell on the black task bar at the top of the page, this is an indicator that you have a pending transfer request that is requiring action. Click on the red bell to take you to the list of requests pending your approval. If you have a request for a student that has transferred out of your district, please approve these as soon as possible. Please check the PAN site frequently to see if there is a Work Request waiting for you. |
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ACT Accommodations Requests
Reminder: The deadline for ACT accommodations and support requests
is January 7, 2022.
- ACT accommodations and support requests must be submitted through ACT's Test Accessibility and Accommodations (TAA) system.
- For more information about ACT accommodations and supports, please see the ACT-hosted website for Arizona, Step 3: Accommodation.
ACT Student Upload
ADE has uploaded cohort 2023 students to ACT's PAN platform (testadmin.act.org).
- Please verify your student upload in PAN. Any newly enrolled students or students who may have been missed in ADE's upload must be added to PAN prior to testing.
- ACT has provided a tutorial to assist you with this process. This tutorial can also be accessed on the ACT-hosted website for Arizona, under Step 2: Preparation.
- For paper-based testing schools: Updates to student data in PAN must take place by January 14, 2022 to receive Pre-ID labels for student paper test booklets.
ACT Webinars
ACT hosted two webinars, (1) Test Administration #1 and (2) Accommodations, for Arizona test coordinators in the fall. Both webinars are available on demand. Links are included below and are also located on the ACT-hosted website and within the ACT Schedule of Events. A third webinar, Test Administration #2, will be held on February 2nd. The registration link is also included below.
All Achievement District Test Coordinators with Grade 11/Cohort 2023 students must view the ACT-hosted webinars either live or on-demand prior to test administration. These are your DTC "training modules" for ACT.
ACT Office Hours
ACT State Office Hours are held on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Previous office hours sessions have been recorded and are available on demand. Please see the ACT Office Hours page for a list of topics, to register for an upcoming session, or to access previous sessions on demand.
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ACT Aspire on-demand trainings for Spring 2022 testing will be available no later than January 7, 2022. We will provide an update on how to access these trainings once they are available.
The ACT Aspire PearsonAccessNext site will go live for Achievement DTCs on January 24, 2022. ADE's upload of students for ACT Aspire will be visible to districts and charters on January 31, 2022.
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