Achievement Assessments Training Modules
Training modules are currently being updated for the 2023-2024 school year. The new training modules will be published in Pearson's new Arizona Learning Management System (AzLMS) in Winter 2023-2024 in preparation for Spring 2024 testing. More information will be included in the November edition of The Assessments Bulletin.
Achievement Testing Mode
All statewide achievement tests are administered online, by default. This includes AASA, AzSCI, ACT Aspire, and ACT. Any school that wishes to switch to paper-based testing for any of the statewide achievement tests must indicate this change in the Achievement Testing Mode application in ADEConnect, which will be open September 18 - October 13, 2023. An email will be sent to all Achievement District Test Coordinators to notify when the application is open and to provide additional information.
Please note that all AzSCI paper tests are administered as Special Paper Version tests and require that all student responses be key-entered in TestNav by the Test Administrator prior to the end of the AzSCI test window.
PearsonAccess Next (PAN) and TestNav
All of the statewide achievement tests, including AASA (Grades 3-8), AzSCI (Grades, 5, 8, and 11/Cohort 2025), ACT Aspire (Grade 9/Cohort 2027), and ACT (Grade 11/Cohort 2025), will utilize the PearsonAccess Next and TestNav platforms. There are three distinct PearsonAccess Next websites, listed below. Links to the technical requirements for each assessment are also included below.
Pearson Access Next Websites:
Dates that the AASA, AzSCI, and ACT Aspire PearsonAccess Next websites will go live for 2023-2024 will be provided as soon as they are available.
TestNav Technical Requirements Websites:
For the most up-to-date TestNav information, please visit Pearson's Technical Bulletins webpage. In addition, please visit the following TestNav System Requirements webpages for each assessment.
Special Paper Version Test Formats
Arizona offers three paper test formats to meet the needs of students who cannot access the test content through computer-based testing. Requests for Special Paper Version tests for AASA, AzSCI, or ACT Aspire must be submitted to ADE for review and approval between September 5, 2023 - February 23, 2024. Submissions must include pages of the student's current IEP or 504 Plan that indicate the need for a Special Paper Version form of the test.
For AASA and AzSCI Special Paper Version tests, student responses must be key-entered into TestNav by the Test Administrator by the end of the applicable test window. For ACT Aspire and ACT, student responses from Braille or large print test booklets must be transcribed to regular print answer documents and returned to ACT by the end of the applicable test window.
More information about Special Paper Version test requests, as well as additional accommodations requests, will be sent in a District Test Coordinator email prior to the submission window opening.
Braille - The student's IEP or 504 Plan must document the need for Braille materials for instruction and assessment. A Braille test kit will include directions for administering the Braille assessment.
Large print paper test booklets - The IEP or 504 Plan must clearly state the font size used for instruction and the type of materials teachers enlarge for the student. Unless a student regularly has reading and math materials enlarged for both diameter and font size, you may consider using the Zoom feature in TestNav instead. The Zoom feature can be tried out in the sample tests. Large print test booklets are approximately 18 inches tall, and the font size is 18pt.
Regular print paper test booklets - A student who cannot access the computer for classroom work due to injury, illness, or low vision may need a paper test in lieu of taking the test with peers on the computer. The IEP or 504 Plan must clearly indicate how the teachers accommodate the student's needs in class and the restrictions the student has when using technology (examples: no more than xx minutes of screen time per day, must have a significant break after xx minutes, no computer usage at all, etc.).
Requests for Special Paper Version tests or other accommodations for ACT must be submitted directly to ACT using ACT's Test Accessibility and Accommodations (TAA) system. ACT's TAA system will open for 2023-2024 accommodations requests in mid-September. Additional information will be provided in an upcoming District Test Coordinator email.
Achievement Assessment Office Hours - New and coming soon!
The Achievement Assessments team will offer optional Office Hours sessions this Winter/Spring! Look for more information in the November edition of The Assessments Bulletin.
ACT Updates
ACT Test Windows
Schools may utilize both ACT test windows in order to assess all Cohort 2025 students. Schools are encouraged to administer ACT during the first test window and may also use the second test window, as needed, to complete any makeup testing. Please note that the ACT test windows are two distinct test windows. Any students with approved accommodations for testing over multiple days must complete testing within the same test window in which they begin testing.
Additional online ACT test days have been added to each test window this year, for a total of nine online test days in each window. Schools administering ACT online may use any of the online test days to complete testing. Schools administering ACT on paper may only administer paper tests on the designated paper test dates but may use the additional online test dates for makeup testing.
Any schools that choose to administer the ACT during only the second test window will not have an additional ACT test window to use for makeup testing. Test window selection will made by test coordinators in ACT's PearsonAccess Next platform in November 2023.
ACT Webinars - Save the Date
ACT and ADE have scheduled the following webinars for test coordinators in preparation for Spring 2024 testing. Webinar registration links are coming soon!
- Test Administration #1 - November 8, 2023, 9:00am
- Accommodations - November 15, 2023, 9:00am
- Test Administration #2 - February 21, 2024, 9:00am
