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Welcome to a year filled with AZELLA! We had an incredible Spring 2023 Reassessment Test administration with over 107,000 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. Our appreciation goes to the Arizona educators, like you, who participated in every aspect of the development of the new AZELLA.
AZELLA Web Pages
https://www.azed.gov/assessment/azella-dtcs - This web page provides current AZELLA test administration information and guidance, calendars, forms and reports, training information, presentations, and useful web links.
https://www.azed.gov/assessment/azella - This web page provides information about the AZELLA Test, including resources and sample tests, AZELLA blueprints, Performance Level Descriptors (PLDs), and Item Specifications.
PearsonAccess Next Accounts
PearsonAccess Next (PAN) is the AZELLA test management system for the 2023-2024 school year. All AZELLA District Test Coordinators (DTCs) are required to have a PAN account. All students who are administered the AZELLA must first be registered in PAN for the test. The AZELLA DTC will have access to order additional paper testing materials, published reports, and the Student Data Files (SDF) for both AZELLA administrations. The online AZELLA tests are controlled through PAN by the test administrator.
PearsonAccess Next 2022-2023 Reports and Data Files
All the 2022-2023 AZELLA Placement Test and Spring 2023 AZELLA Reassessment Test published reports and Student Data Files from PearsonAccess Next (PAN) (district- and school-level entities) must be downloaded and saved by September 30, 2023. 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 PearsonAccess Next 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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NEW! The AZELLA Family Report Guide is now available! The guide is included in the electronic versions of the Individual Student Reports as well as with the paper copy that Pearson ships for every student who receives the blue Pearson Student Report to send to parents. The AZELLA Family Report Guide is included with the Placement and the Spring Reassessment reports. This guide is a two-sided document - one side is in English, and the other side is in Spanish.
2023-2024 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 District Test Coordinators 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 Placement testing can begin after the District Test Coordinator, School Test Coordinators, and Test Administrators complete the training associated with their Annual and Placement requirements.
New Arizona Learning Management System (AzLMS) |
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AZELLA District Test Coordinators (DTCs) will receive an email from Adobe Learning Manager (admin@adobelearningmanager.com), with the subject "Welcome to Arizona's Learning Management System: Verification required."
Local Education Agencies (LEAs) may have email filters in place that are not allowing the email to come through to an email inbox. Please contact the LEA IT department and provide the following information:
- The email comes from "Adobe Learning Manager."
- The email address is admin@adobelearningmanager.com.
- The title of the email is "Welcome to Arizona's Learning Management System: Verification required."
- The IT department needs to allow any email coming from admin@adobelearningmanager.com to come through.
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Once DTCs have accessed your AzLMS account, DTCs will have 2 user roles within your one account - Learner and Manager. DTCs must complete the AZELLA courses while under the Learner role using the District Test Coordinator tag, and then use the Manager role for accessing AzLMS reports for course completions for the LEA's AZELLA staff. |
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New 2023 AZELLA Placement Tests (paper and online) for Grades 1-12
The new AZELLA Placement Tests for Grades 1-12 are aligned to the 2019 English Language Proficiency (ELP) Standards. The test design, item types, and format match the Spring 2023 Reassessment Test.
New Materials for the Kindergarten Placement Test (KPT), Grade 1, and Grades 2-3
- KPT Student Response Sheets and Errata Sheet
- Grade 1 Placement Test materials
- Grades 2-3 Unit 4 Placement Test materials and Test Administration Directions
Which Students Require an AZELLA Placement Test?
AZELLA for Dual Label Students (EL and Special Education)
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 about any student who requires a Special Paper Version (SPV) form 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 2023-2024 and Spring 2024 Reassessment) for the school year. Please submit this request form by August 31, 2023, to reduce delays in testing. DTCs must wait for ADE's response to the 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 request forms as soon as possible and before August 31.
- Grades KG-12
- AZELLA Braille (Reassessment only)
- AZELLA Special Paper Version (SPV) for ONLINE test administrations
- AZELLA Large Print (LP) for Paper AZELLA test administrations
- Grades 2-12 AZELLA ASL Version (ASL videos for directions and accessibility elements)
Retained Kindergarten Students
Kindergarten students from SY 2022-2023 and retained in Kindergarten for SY 2023-2024 are not permitted to be administered the Kindergarten Placement Test (KPT).
- Kindergarten students who were administered the KPT and/or the Spring 2023 Reassessment Test - use the results of the most recent AZELLA test for EL program services eligibility for SY 2023-2024.
- Kindergarten students who were never administered any AZELLA test during SY 2022-2023 - 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.
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 PearsonAccess Next (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 personally identifiable information, such as the full name and 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 Arizona 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 do anything.
The EL Reports available through the Assessments section of ADEConnect include:
- EL70 - ELP Student Test History Report
- EL72 - ELP Test Roster Report
- EL73 - EL Student Need Report
- File Metrics (AZELLA Corrections)
PLEASE NOTE: The EL70 - ELP Student Test History Report is only available for authorized district users and only when the student has a current school enrollment within the district schools. |
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AZELLAology is an informal open invitation for AZELLA District Test Coordinators to attend a virtual call using the Microsoft Teams application (camera is not required) where the ADE AZELLA Team answers AZELLA questions and shares AZELLA important information, news, guidance, and mini-tutorials about a variety of AZELLA-related topics.
These optional AZELLAology sessions will last about one hour and focus on a few specific AZELLA topics. ADE's AZELLA Team 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 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, are posted on the AZELLA DTC webpage under the AZELLAology section.
Attendance for AZELLAology is not required. The invitation is open to all AZELLA DTCs; 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, Sandra, and Rose) 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 communication from ADE, in the subject 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 strives to respond to emails within one business day unless further research is needed. |
OELAS Updates
Practitioners of English Language Learning (PELL) Fall Meeting - September 6, 2023 at Desert Willow Conference Center, Phoenix
The annual OELAS Conference is on hiatus for this year. In its place, OELAS will be offering a three-day training session for teachers and administrators. The first two days will be dedicated to teachers and the third day will be offered for administrators. The training sessions are titled, "Effective SEI Instructional Practices" and will take place at Desert Willow Conference Center on December 4-6, 2023.
Please contact OELAS at OELAS@azed.gov for any questions about these training opportunities. |
If you have any questions about AZELLA, please contact us at AZELLA@azed.gov. |
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