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Welcome to a year filled with AZELLA! We had an incredible Spring 2022 Reassessment Test administration with over 98,000 students tested. We are confident that this school year will be just as successful because of you. ADE's Assessment AZELLA Team appreciates your dedication and advocacy for the EL students in your schools and across the state. We understand what the job entails, and we are ready to provide you with guidance and assistance throughout the school year as the AZELLA is a year-round assessment with two separate test administrations this school year. The AZELLA has been developed by Arizona educators and scholars, like you, for Arizona students.
AZELLA Web Pages
This web page provides current AZELLA test administration information and guidance, calendars, forms and reports, training information, presentations, and useful web links.
This web page provides information about the AZELLA test, including resources and sample tests, AZELLA blueprints, PLDs, and Item Specifications.
This web page provides the Arizona Accommodation manual with a section specifically for AZELLA accommodations and Universal Test Administration Conditions.
This web page provides AZELLA technical and legal resources such as the Standard Setting Reporting for AZELLA, Technical Reports, and Research and Alignment Studies for AZELLA.
PearsonAccessNext Accounts
PearsonAccessNext (PAN) is the AZELLA test management system for the 2022-2023 school year. All AZELLA District Test Coordinators are required to have a PAN account. All students who are administered the AZELLA must be registered in PAN for the test. The AZELLA DTC will have access to order additional paper testing materials as well as access to published reports and the Student Data Files (SDF) for both AZELLA administrations. The online AZELLA tests are controlled through PAN by the test administrator.
PearsonAccessNext 2021-2022 Reports and Data Files
All the 2021-2022 AZELLA Placement Test and Spring 2022 AZELLA Reassessment Test published reports and Student Data Files from PearsonAccessNext (PAN) (district- and school-level entities) must be downloaded and saved by September 30, 2022. After this date, these reports and Student Data Files will not be available as Pearson nor ADE keep these. Please refer to the PAN User's Guide and the Accessing PDF Reports and Data Files in PearsonAccessNext Quick Guide document. You will need to change the Test Administration in PAN to the reports and Student Data Files that you need. |
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2022-2023 Placement Test Administration
This document includes important dates and tasks for each AZELLA test administration. It also includes the AZELLA Placement Test Cycle Calendar on pages 4 and 5. We encourage all AZELLA DTCs to print these pages to reference throughout the school year.
This document provides the training requirements for each AZELLA test administration by AZELLA role or category. AZELLA testing can begin after the DTC, STCs, and TAs complete their requirements associated with the Annual and Placement requirements.
New 2022 AZELLA Kindergarten Placement Test (KPT) Materials
(for districts/charters that service KG)
After the four tasks bulleted below have been verified as complete, Pearson will 2-day ship the new 2022 KPT materials: 1 KPT Starter Kit for the DTC and 1 KPT Starter Kit per school. Each KPT Starter Kit contains testing materials to test 20 kindergarten students. Additional KPT Response Sheets can be ordered by the AZELLA DTC through PAN.
The AZELLA DTC may place an order for additional Stage II (Grades 1 and 2) paper test materials through PAN.
Which Students Require an AZELLA Placement Test?
Potential English learners are identified in Arizona by the parent responses on the student's Home Language Survey (HLS). If any of the responses on the HLS indicates a language other than English and/or American Sign Language (ASL), the student must be tested with an AZELLA Placement Test upon the student's first enrollment in an Arizona public school.
The EL70 - AZELLA Student History Report must be reviewed for each student enrolling in your school because an AZELLA test history supersedes an all-English HLS. The EL70 Report also includes the HLS responses.
Students who require a new AZELLA Placement Test include: |
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When a district or charter does not receive state funding for a Foreign Exchange student, then the student should not be administered any AZELLA test.
AZELLA for EL/SPED
All students, regardless of disability, who have a non-English/non-ASL Home Language Survey require an AZELLA test. There are no provisions, in either state or federal law, which would allow the exemption of AZELLA testing for students who are enrolled in the Special Education program and require an AZELLA test.
The AZELLA DTC must contact the AZELLA Team at ADE regarding any student who requires a Special Paper Version (SPV) of the test, additional accommodations, or has a documented disability (for example: deafness or blindness) that precludes assessment in one or more domains of AZELLA prior to administering the AZELLA test by submitting one of the EL/SPED forms.
One AZELLA Additional Accommodations Request Form submission per student covers all AZELLA test administrations (Placement and Spring 2023 Reassessment) for the school year. Please submit this request form by August 31, 2022 to reduce delays in testing. You must wait for ADE's response to your request and further directions from the AZELLA Team prior to administering the AZELLA. Each request form may take up to 4 weeks to process as communication between ADE and the district transpires. Submit your request forms as soon as possible and before August 31, 2022.
- Grades KG-12
- AZELLA Braille
- Reassessment (only) - Grades K-12 - Braille (with some accessible domains without braille knowledge for lower grades)
- AZELLA Special Paper Version (SPV) for ONLINE test administrations
- Placement Grades 3-12 - SPV for online test
- Reassessment - Grades 2-12 - SPV for online test
- AZELLA Large Print (LP) for paper AZELLA test administrations
- Placement - Grades 1-2 - paper Large Print
- Placement - Grades 3-12 - SPV Large Print
- Reassessment - Kindergarten - paper Large Print
- Reassessment - Grade 1 - paper Large Print
- Reassessment - Grades 2-3 - Large Print for paper test unit
- Reassessment - Grades 2-12 - SPV Large Print
Retained Kindergarten Students
Kindergarten students from SY 2021-2022 and retained in Kindergarten for SY 2022-2023 are not permitted to be administered the Kindergarten Placement Test (KPT).
- For KG students who were administered the KPT and/or the Spring 2022 Reassessment Test, you will use the results of the most recent AZELLA test for the EL program services eligibility for SY 2022-2023.
- For KG students who were never administered any AZELLA test during SY 2021-2022, you must contact the AZELLA Team at AZELLA@azed.gov and provide us with the student's SSID and school name. ADE will give you further guidance for testing.
Preparation for a Successful Test Administration
The best way to prepare for administering the AZELLA is to allow your students to use the new Sample Tests (digital kits for paper-and-pencil grades). These Sample Tests will be available for downloading inside PearsonAccessNext in August. The Grades 2-12 new online Sample Tests will be available to everyone without a username and password in TestNav this month. The AZELLA Team will be hosting a webinar on new Sample Tests during the week of August 22 to provide information and guidance regarding the digital kits, test design and item types, and scoring rubrics.
State Student Identification Number (SSID) |
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Schools must verify that a new student doesn't already have an SSID before obtaining one through AzEDS. All students who will be administered an AZELLA test must have an active SSID. When creating a student in PearsonAccessNext (PAN) and registering the student for an AZELLA test, an 11-digit SSID must be entered in PAN, which means that leading zeros must be added to the student's SSID number.
When communicating with ADE and the AZELLA Team, DTCs are expected to provide a student's SSID number, not the student's name and date of birth. FERPA does not allow for districts, schools, charters, and ADE to include a student's personal identifiable information, such as the full name and/or date of birth in written electronic communications when the student's SSID number is known. Please refer to the AZELLA Test Security and Ethics training module for more information about this topic.
ADEConnect - EL Reports and the AZELLA Corrections Application |
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All AZELLA DTCs must have an ADEConnect account with the role of AZELLA District Test Coordinator. Other district and school staff who require access to the AZELLA (EL) Reports from ADE must have the role of ELL for ADEConnect. Only one person per district can have the role of AZELLA District Test Coordinator. You must contact your ADEConnect Entity Administrator for this. If you already have this role and access to the EL Reports, then you do not need to contact your ADEConnect Entity Administrator. |
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AZELLAology is an open invitation for AZELLA District Test Coordinators to attend a virtual call using the Microsoft Teams application (camera is not required) where the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) AZELLA Team answers your AZELLA questions and shares AZELLA essential information, news, guidance, and mini-tutorials about a variety of AZELLA-related topics.
These optional AZELLAology sessions will last about one hour and will focus on a few specific AZELLA topics. We will answer individual session-specific questions during this hour. Sessions are not recorded and are not posted on the website; however, ADE will provide attendees with the presentation slides that we use for that session when requested.
All scheduled Tuesday and Thursday AZELLAology sessions, unless otherwise noted, begin at 8:00am and end at 9:00am. The link to attend a scheduled session, as well as the topics for each session, is posted on the AZELLA DTC web page under the AZELLAology section.
Attendance for AZELLAology is not required. The invitation is open to all AZELLA District Test Coordinators; however, we strongly encourage first and second year AZELLA DTCs to attend. |
Communicating with the
AZELLA Team
The most efficient way to communicate with the AZELLA team (Gabbie, Brenda, and Jessica) at ADE is by email. |
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- Use a meaningful subject line that includes your entire district name and entity ID.
- Include full contact information in your signature line or elsewhere in the email.
- Include the student's SSID number if your question is regarding a specific student. Per federal laws, please do not include the student's name and birthdate when providing ADE with the SSID.
- For students testing, please include the student's grade level and school.
- If the student is currently testing or is sitting for the test but waiting for confirmation from ADE, in the Subject line of the email, please include "Urgent - Student Testing" and be sure to include a phone number where you can answer ADE's call.
The AZELLA Team (Gabbie, Brenda, and Jessica) strives to respond to emails within one business day unless further research is needed. |
The AZELLA Art Contest was a huge success! We received entries from talented EL student artists across the state. The winning artwork pieces will be featured on the covers of the AZELLA Spring Reassessment, Placement, and the new Sample Tests, as well as the Welcome screens of the online AZELLA tests. The winners of the AZELLA Art Contest will be officially announced and recognized at the Assessment Conference in September. A big shoutout to all our AZELLA DTCs for taking the time and coordinating their district's submissions. |
OELAS Information
OELAS has released an important "Guidance to the Field" document focused on digital platforms and the legal requirements for obtaining electronic signatures on English Learner Forms. Be sure to download and read through the guidance as soon as possible.
PELL Meeting
OELAS will be hosting their annual beginning of the school year PELL Meeting on September 7, 2022 at the Desert Willow Conference Center. |
If you have any questions about AZELLA, please contact us at AZELLA@azed.gov. |
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