Assessments Bulletin
May 1, 2025 |
I hope the end of the school year is going well. The Spring Assessment windows are closed. Thank you to all District Test Coordinators (DTCs) and school staff for your hard work in completing testing.
Here are some test completion numbers to celebrate:
AZELLA Reassessment: 118,000
Alt ELPA: 1,700
AzSCI: 248,000
ACT Aspire: 414,000 (content areas completed)
ACT: 84,800
AASA: 1,220,500 (ELA and Math)
MSAA: 6,000
The AASA summer reading test will not be available this year. Please use the data collection tools you have been using. Alternatively, you may sign up for Navvy to collect data on reading standards that can be used in your promotion decisions. Navvy is a Pearson product offered through the Arizona Department of Education at no cost to districts/charters. Please contact the Achievement team at Testing@azed.gov for more information on signing up for Navvy or guidance on how to use Navvy for Move on When Reading (MOWR) decisions.
The Assessments team is also happy to share that we will be presenting at the Teachers' Institute and Leading Change Conference in June. Topics include Navvy, AASA and Essential Standards, Accessibility and Accommodations, AASA Writing and Math, AzSCI, and Alternate Assessment Eligibility. We hope to see you there!
You may have heard about the newly identified Essential Standards and their priority for AASA. Please see the Essential Standards website with additional details on how to plan instruction and what to expect on AASA.
This summer, the Assessments Unit will have various educator committees. If you are interested in being a part of any of our educator committees, please make sure you have submitted an application form. If you know of other educators who might be interested, forward the link to submit an Educator Committee Application. We always appreciate educators who are willing to help us make great assessments.
Each year, the Assessments Unit requires a new District Test Coordinator (DTC) Security Agreement Form. Please submit this form with the names and contact information for each of the assessments by June 30, 2025. The form must be signed by the Superintendent/Charter Representative and each designated DTC prior to the start of any 2025-2026 state assessments. This form can be found on the Assessments homepage.
The Assessments Overview document has been updated with the tentative 2025-2026 Statewide Testing Windows for your planning purposes.
The bi-annual Assessment Accommodations Survey is currently open. The results are used to inform future discussion regarding the use of instructional accommodations and considerations for additional allowable accommodations or universal tools. We are seeing responses from all educators. If you have not done so already, please forward the survey to your educators. The survey will close May 30, 2025.
We hope you all have a wonderful and relaxing summer! |
Bethany Spangenberg
Deputy Associate Superintendent of Assessment
Arizona Department of Education |
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Joseph M. Guzman, Ph.D.
Associate Superintendent of Assessment, Standards, Accountability and Research
Arizona Department of Education |
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Reporting from Spring 2025 Achievement Assessments
Refer to the Spring 2025 Achievement Assessments Reporting infographic, which includes all of the Achievement Assessments reporting dates in one location for easy access. Specific reporting dates for each assessment are also included in the District Test Coordinator Important Tasks Checklists (for AASA and AzSCI) and the Schedule of Events (for ACT Aspire and ACT).
Electronic reports, including Student Data Files, Individual Student Reports and PDF reports for AASA, AzSCI, and ACT Aspire will be available in the respective PearsonAccess Next sites. Electronic reports for ACT will be available in ACT's online reporting system at success.act.org.
Two paper copies of each Individual Student Report will be sent to districts and charters. One copy is to be distributed to parents/guardians, and the other copy is to be placed in the student's secure file. Paper copies of ACT Individual Student Reports are sent directly to schools rather than to the district office. Paper copies of AASA, AzSCI, and ACT Aspire Individual Student Reports are sent to the district address shown in PearsonAccess Next.
Achievement Assessment scores are not embargoed; however, it is important to remember that individual student scores can only be shared with those who have an educational need to view them and with parents/guardians.
Please note the following as scores are published over the coming weeks.
- All AASA ELA test units must be valid to receive an AASA ELA score. For grades 4-8, the ELA score is comprised of the Writing unit and two Reading units. For grade 3, the ELA score includes the Writing unit, two Reading units, and the Oral Reading Fluency test unit. Students must have responded to at least one test item in each unit to receive a score.
- All Math test units must be valid to receive an AASA Math score. Students must have responded to at least one test item in each Math test unit to receive a score.
- All AzSCI test units must be valid to receive an AzSCI score. Students must have responded to at least one test item in each Science test unit to receive a score.
- For ACT and ACT Aspire, the English, Reading and Writing tests must be valid to receive an ELA score. The Math test must be valid to receive a Math score.
- The ACT Composite score is comprised of the English, Math, Reading, and Science scores. The ACT STEM score is a combined score for the Math and Science tests. The ACT ELA score is an average of the Writing, English, and Reading scale scores. Refer to the Understanding ACT ELA Scores infographic for more information about ACT ELA scores.
Student Data File Layouts
Reporting Guides
Notify ADE of Missing Scores
It is the responsibility of districts and charters to verify that all students who tested receive scores back. It is especially important for paper-based testing schools to verify results to ensure all paper test materials were received by Pearson for scoring. Districts and schools should verify scores using the electronic reports that will be published in PearsonAccess Next (PAN) for AASA, AzSCI, and ACT Aspire, and in success.act.org for ACT, and should not wait until paper copies are received to complete this task. If a student is not included in the electronic reports, then they will also not receive paper copies of reports. Any discrepancies must be reported to ADE as soon as possible and no later than June 30, 2025.
Achievement Assessments Corrections Application
Any AASA, AzSCI, ACT Aspire, or ACT test records with an unmatched student name, date of birth, or SSID will begin to appear in the ADEConnect Corrections Application in late May. Unmatched records must be reviewed and matched by the Achievement District Test Coordinator.
To review and update test record demographics in the Corrections Application, you must have the "Achievement District Test Coordinator" role in ADEConnect. Access the Corrections Application by: logging into ADEConnect > View Applications > Assessments > Corrections > Student Demographic Corrections or by: logging into ADEConnect > View Applications > File Metrics > Student Demographic Corrections.
Automated weekly emails will be sent to Achievement District Test Coordinators to inform of any outstanding records in the Corrections Application. Please review and correct any test records in the Corrections Application as quickly as possible. The deadline to complete corrections is June 30, 2025. |
AASA Reporting
Move on When Reading (MOWR)
The Move on When Reading (MOWR) indicator will be included on the AASA Grade 3 score reports. To determine whether third grade students met the MOWR requirements for promotion to fourth grade, complete the following after scores are published in PearsonAccess Next.
- Download the AASA Student Data File for your district or charter. The AASA Student Data File layout is available on the Achievement District Test Coordinator webpage and in PearsonAccess Next under Support > Documentation.
- Filter the "Move on When Reading Requirement" column (column BV).
- Any student who has a "Y" in this column met the cut score for MOWR.
- Any student who has an "N" in this column did not meet the cut score for MOWR. Refer to ADE's MOWR website for additional information about MOWR and good cause exemptions.
- This column will be blank for any Grade 3 student with an incomplete or invalidated ELA test. Refer to ADE's MOWR website, follow up with ADE's MOWR team, or otherwise consider that the student has not met the MOWR cut score.
The AASA summer reading test will not be available this year. Please use the data collection tools you have been using. Alternatively, you may sign up for Navvy, a Pearson product offered through the Arizona Department of Education at no cost to district and charters, to collect data on reading standards that can be used in your promotion decisions. If your district or charter would like to sign up for Navvy, please send an email to Testing@azed.gov.
The Achievement Assessments Office Hours session, AASA Grade 3 ELA-Reading Summer Administration, scheduled for May 7, 2025, has been cancelled. For questions and more information, please join us for the final 2024-2025 Friday Focus Webinar, Looking Ahead to 2025-2026, on May 2, 2025, 1:00-2:00pm. This webinar will also be recorded and posted on our website after the live event.
AASA District Data File
Per ยง15-741, districts may request a district data file for AASA. the Spring 2025 AASA district data file will include student and item information, and other relevant data points not contained in the standard data file, including item type, theta scores by reporting category, scale score by reporting category, and number of items by reporting category. For a district or charter to receive an AASA district data file, a request must be submitted to ADE by June 6, 2025, by completing the request form. The district data files will be sent to the requesting DTC in a secure file in Summer 2025.
AASA Parent Portal
The AASA Parent Portal is an optional resource schools and districts/charters may use to allow families to securely access and view their student's AASA score reports online. The Parent Portal is available for AASA only. Paper copies of AASA Individual Student Reports will still be sent to districts and charters and should be provided to parents.
For parents to access their student's score reports in the AASA Parent Portal, a claim code will be required. The claim code can only be obtained from the student's school; however, schools are not required to distribute AASA Parent Portal claim codes.
A claim code file (in CSV format) is available to download in PearsonAccess Next by the following user roles: AASA District Test Coordinator, AASA District Report Only, AASA School Test Coordinator, and AASA School Report Only. To access the file, go to Reports > Operational Reports > Students & Registrations > Claim Codes.
A Parent Portal User Guide is published on the AASA website in English and Spanish and can be used to distribute claim codes to parents/guardians. |
Achievement Assessments - Looking Ahead to Spring 2026
Arizona's measures of academic success in Spring 2026 include administering the following assessments.
- Arizona's Academic Standards Assessment (AASA) - the statewide achievement test for Arizona students in Grades 3-8. AASA assesses the Arizona English Language Arts (ELA) and Arizona Mathematics Standards.
- Arizona Science Test (AzSCI) - the statewide achievement test for Science, administered in Grades 5, 8, and the 11th grade cohort (Cohort 2027). AzSCI assesses the Arizona Science Standards.
- ACT Aspire - the statewide high school assessment administered in the 9th grade cohort (Cohort 2029). ACT Aspire includes the following test sections: English, Math, Reading, Science, and Writing.
- ACT - the statewide high school assessment administered in the 11th grade cohort (Cohort 2027). ACT includes the following test sections: English, Math, Reading, Science, and Writing.
Tentative test windows for Spring 2026 have been published in the 2025-2026 Assessments Overview. Test windows are tentative and subject to change. If any changes occur, they will be communicated to District Test Coordinators and updated on our websites in Fall 2025.
ACT Updates for Spring 2026
For the past several months, ACT has been communicating about upcoming enhancements to the ACT test. The ACT enhancements will be in effect for the Spring 2026 statewide ACT test administration and are summarized below. More information will be provided in the May 2nd Friday Focus Webinar, Looking Ahead to 2025-2026, and in Fall 2025 communications.
- Science will be included as part of the Arizona statewide ACT test administration in Spring 2026. This will allow students to receive an ACT STEM score on their reports. Students in the 11th grade cohort will also take AzSCI in Spring 2026.
- Writing will continue to be included as part of the Arizona statewide ACT test administration in Spring 2026 and is required for students to receive an ELA score.
- In Spring 2026, the ACT composite score will be comprised of the English, Math, and Reading test scores only. Science will no longer be included in the ACT composite score but will continue to be included in the ACT STEM score.
- Schools will have the flexibility to administer Science and Writing on a different day than English, Math, and Reading are administered.
- The ACT enhancements include fewer test items overall and more time per test item. Additional information is available on ACT's Test Enhancements webpage. An on-demand webinar is also available, as well as a Comparison of the Legacy and Enhanced ACT Test.
- New full-length practice tests reflect the enhancements and additional sample questions.
- In Spring 2026, Arizona's ACT statewide test administration platform will be ACT Now. ACT test administration tasks will no longer be located in the PearsonAccess Next platform. TestNav will continue to be the test engine for online tests. More information will be provided in Fall 2025!
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Alt ELPA Updates
Thank you for completing the Alt ELPA summative assessment, which closed on March 14. Alt ELPA reports are available in the Cambium platform under the reporting portal. Hard copies will be sent to the District of Attendance later this month. More information will be e-mailed to Alternate Assessment Test Coordinators. The Alt ELPA Screener window will close on May 9, 2025 and will reopen for the 2025-2026 school year on August 1. Please remember that students must be determined eligible for alternate assessments before taking the Alt ELPA Screener.
MSAA Updates
The MSAA test window ended on April 25. Over 6000 students completed MSAA testing. The MSAA system is closed until reporting opens on July 14. Only District Test Coordinators will have access to the MSAA reporting portal.
Securely Shredding and Deleting MSAA Test Materials
Test Coordinators are responsible for ensuring that printed test materials are securely shredded after the testing window closes. Downloaded folders and test materials (DTAs, printed versions of a student's test, etc.) must be permanently deleted from the desktop. Test Administration Manuals are not secure test materials and do not have to be shredded. These materials may be discarded. Do not send any materials to ADE.
MSAA Reports
The MSAA reporting portal will be open from July 14 - September 5, 2025. Reports will be available for ELA, Mathematics, and Science. Reports are available at the District of Attendance (DOA) so your tuitioned-out and privately placed students will not be included in your reports. Please work with the DOA to get the results. More information on downloading reports and receiving hard copies of the student reports will be sent to the test coordinator in July.
2026 MSAA Administration
The 2026 MSAA test administration window has not been finalized. Please plan for approximately the same window of mid-March until end of April. The confirmed test window will be shared with Alternate Assessment Test Coordinators when it is available.
Professional Development Hours Certificate
Professional development (PD) hours certificates were e-mailed to the Alternate Assessment Test Coordinators in April. Please distribute the PD certificates to those individuals who completed the TA and/or TC training modules. There are separate certificates for Test Coordinators and Test Administrators for both Alt ELPA and MSAA. Please contact us if you need a list of your test administrator training status for Alt ELPA or MSAA.
User Access
All users will be removed from the MSAA system after reporting closes. You will no longer have access to any student or administration information. You will continue to have access to sample items and other instructional resources. User accounts will be created again in January. This step is necessary to keep the systems up to date.
1% Threshold
Under federal regulation, the state is required to "provide appropriate oversight to each LEA that the State anticipates will assess more than 1% of its assessed students...using alternate assessments aligned with alternate academic achievement standards." Action plans for LEAs that exceeded 1% participation in the 2024 administration are due May 2, 2025. If you have not submitted your student information or Action Plan, please do so as soon as possible. Failure to cooperate with federally required monitoring may impact your IDEA funding. |
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Important Upcoming Tasks
May 1 | Spring 2025 ELP test results available electronically, including the Student Data File
May 9 | Last day to download AZELLA Annual, Placement, Reassessment, and Understand Scoring Professional Development certificates from the AzLMS
May 9 | Placement Test window closes
May 15 | Paper copies of the Spring 2025 AZELLA Reassessment Individual Student Reports arrive at districts and charters
Last day of school | Download and print your EL73 Reports
May 30 | Placement Test Cycle 12 and cumulative FY2025 Student Data Files available in PAN
June 12 | Paper copies of the Placement Cycle 12 Reports arrive at districts and charters
June 13 | 2025-2026 District Test Coordinator Security Agreement due to ADE
July 1 | Annual and Placement Test training modules and the Understand Scoring Qualifications open in the AzLMS
July 7 | First available date to enable DTC PAN accounts for the 2025-2026 Placement Test administration for AZELLA DTCs
Spring 2025 AZELLA Reassessment Results
Approximately 119,700 students completed the Spring 2025 English Language Proficiency Assessments (AZELLA, Alt ELPA Summative, and Braille tests).
The electronic results of the Spring 2025 AZELLA Reassessment Test will be available in PAN on May 1, 2025. The paper copies of the Individual Student Reports will arrive at districts and charters on May 15, 2025. Don't forget to check the Corrections (File Metrics) application in ADEConnect for student records that need correcting before they can pass Integrity.
When using the Spring 2025 AZELLA Reassessment Student Data File, the File Layout must be used with the Student Information System (SIS) first. The SIS administrator will need to work with the SIS vendor to get this layout file in place prior to uploading the Student Data File.
Districts may not disclose or share any student information, including demographic, disability, or assessment results, with any unauthorized person(s). This includes sharing EL data with districts or schools outside of the originating district.
AZELLA Additional Accommodations Webinar
Be on the lookout for an invitation to the AZELLA Additional Accommodations webinar later in May 2025. This webinar is to prepare districts for requesting additional accommodations for the AZELLA other than Universal Test Administration Conditions and the pre-approved AZELLA accommodations. We welcome the AZELLA DTCs and SPED directors to this comprehensive webinar.
Looking Forward to School Year 2025-2026
It is the AZELLA DTC's responsibility to periodically check the AZELLA DTC web page for information and updated documents that will be used for the 2025-2026 school year.
AZELLA Trainings and Qualifications 2025-2026
The Arizona Learning Management System (AzLMS) for the 2025-2026 school year will open on July 1, 2025, for the AZELLA Annual and AZELLA Placement training modules and the Kindergarten Placement Test Administrators and Grade 1 and Grades 2-3 Placement Writing Scorers Understand Scoring qualifications. If you have an AzLMS account from the 2024-2025 school year, and you will remain at the same district during the 2025-2026 school year, you will use the same AzLMS account. New AZELLA DTCs will receive an invitation from Adobe for their AzLMS account. AZELLA staff who have an AzLMS account and change districts for the new school year will need to self-register for a new AzLMS account.
New for the 2025-2026 school year: The AZELLA Fundamentals is an AZELLA Annual training module for all AZELLA District Test Coordinators, School Test Coordinators, and Test Administrators. This training course covers the Placement and Reassessment test administrations and allows for more concise training modules by compiling information that used to be included in more than one module.
PearsonAccess Next DTC Accounts 2025-2026
ADE will work with Pearson to enable AZELLA DTC PearsonAccess Next (PAN) accounts for the 2025-2026 AZELLA Placement Test administration once ADE verifies that the DTC has completed the training requirements. The earliest a DTC's PAN account will be enabled for the Placement administration is July 7, 2025.
Accessing Students' EL70 - ELP Student Test History Reports
Districts will be able to access a student's EL70 Report within 2 calendar weeks after the last day of school for the 2024-2025 school year and within 2 weeks prior to the student's school enrollment date for the 2025-2026 school year provided the school enrollment has been processed through AzEDS and passed Integrity. The date in which access to the student's EL70 Report is granted is dependent on when the district's Student Information System has synchronized the school enrollments to AzEDS. Student school enrollments can be verified with the school's STUD10 - Student Data Verification Report found in the AzEDS Portal.
2025-2026 Placement Test Administration
The Placement Test administration opens on the district's first student instructional day of the school year and runs throughout the school year ending in mid-May. Districts and charters may use an ADE approved 2-calendar week jump-start to begin the administration of the Placement Test before their first instructional day only when the DTC, STCs, and TAs have completed the requirements for the AZELLA Placement Test administration.
The following groups of students must be administered the AZELLA Placement Test (or Alt ELPA Screener) within the first two calendar weeks (or within the two weeks prior to the start) of the 2025-2026 school year:
- Students who received an "Undetermined" ELP record from the 2024-2025 school year - must use the AZELLA Placement Test Referral Form English Learner Status Undetermined
- Students who have the red font quick alert message on their EL70 Report - no referral needed
- Students associated with EL Group 8 on the EL73 Report - no referral needed
- IMPORTANT NOTE: Students will not be showing on the EL73 Report until the district has synchronized their school enrollments to AzEDS.
Private School Students Testing with the AZELLA
All private schools wanting to participate with AZELLA testing must pay for their own tests and conduct their own testing. They may also require their own AZELLA DTC and testing staff. Private schools can be associated with the public-school districts for AZELLA testing in PearsonAccess Next.
Students Who Are Not Eligible for ELP Testing
- Students who have the blue font message on their EL70 Report indicating they were withdrawn from EL services due to SPED criteria in Fiscal Year 2019 and earlier are not eligible for ELP testing.
- Homeschooled students who receive ESA funding are not eligible for ELP testing.
- Students participating in the Foreign Exchange Student program and not receiving state funding are not eligible for ELP testing.
Student Testing Questions and Concerns
If you have questions or concerns about a student's AZELLA test, please send your inquiry to AZELLA@azed.gov. You must include the student(s) SSID number(s). |
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Join the AZELLA team for AZELLAology, an hour long, informal, live customer service question-and-answer video call in Microsoft Teams.
The dates, times, topics, and invitation links will be posted on the AZELLA DTC webpage under the AZELLAology section.
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If you have any questions about AZELLA, please contact us at AZELLA@azed.gov. |
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The NAEP results from the 2023-2024 school year main NAEP data release were made public and released at the end of January 2025. The data is available to access and review, including the contextual items, at Explore Assessment Data | NAEP.
The National Center for Education Statistics is preparing for another "MAIN" NAEP assessment for the 2025/2026 school year. This will include state level assessment results in Math and Reading for Grades 4 & 8. About 300 Arizona public schools will be participating in the Main NAEP assessment. The assessment window for NAEP is January 26 through March 20, 2026. In addition to Main NAEP, a select number of schools will be selected to report out nationally on Civics and US History. In addition, a Grade 12 pilot assessment is going to be conducted that Arizona high schools will be asked to participate in, if selected. The NAEP sample itself has not been released to the states as of this writing. The Arizona Department of Education expects to notify schools that were chosen to participate in NAEP by September 1, 2025. Schools will not be notified until the Congressional Office of Management and Budget authorizes the notifications to be disseminated.
NAEP completed a successful field test in 2025 that utilized the school's internet and devices to conduct the NAEP assessment. In 2026, the majority of NAEP assessments will be carried out using school-provided devices. NAEP will collaborate with school and district level IT. It is the expectation that schools chosen for NAEP will make school level IT support available and be on site in the testing location on assessment day. This is to ensure a positive testing day experience on the devices that the students are most familiar with. NAEP is mandated to be conducted at schools selected by the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015. |
If you have any questions, please contact Mr. Gary McIlvaine, AZ Director of NAEP and International Assessments.
602-364-1583
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The Assessments Bulletin is published electronically every August, November, February, and May for distribution to Test Coordinators in Arizona schools. Test Coordinators are responsible for disseminating information in The Assessments Bulletin as appropriate.
Arizona Department of Education - Assessment Section
602.542.5031 |
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