Achievement District Test Coordinator

Updates and Reminders - March 4, 2024

Achievement District Test Coordinators (DTCs),

After 13 years at the Arizona Department of Education, Audra Ahumada has decided to move on to other opportunities, and we wish her well on the next chapter. Bethany Spangenberg has now stepped into the role of Deputy Associate Superintendent of Assessment, and we welcome her to her new role on our team!

The statewide Achievement test windows are quickly approaching! Please remember the following when emailing the Achievement inboxes:

Include your district or charter's Entity ID. Many districts and charters have similar names. Including your Entity ID assists us in researching answers to your questions more quickly.
State which assessment(s) your inquiry is about.
Email only one of our inboxes (AASA, AzSCI, or Testing). Please do not copy the other inboxes on your email. This helps us track emails that have been completed vs. those that still require follow-up.
Send questions about AASA to AASA@azed.gov, questions about AzSCI to AzSCI@azed.gov, and questions about ACT Aspire or ACT to Testing@azed.gov. We are able to respond to emails more quickly than voicemails. Please send your inquiry via email if possible.

For issues that occur while students are testing, please include in the subject line, "Urgent-Students Testing."

When contacting Pearson Customer Support for assistance, please retain your ticket number. If you contact ADE's Assessment team for assistance with the same question or issue, please share the Pearson ticket number with us so ADE and Pearson can further assist you.

AASA Test Sessions, Units, and Testing Groups

Please do not create test sessions for AASA. Test sessions were automatically created when students were uploaded. Newly added students should be placed in these pre-created sessions.

Districts and schools that would like to group students by classroom, testing days, or other groupings in PearsonAccess Next (PAN) should use the optional Testing Groups function in PAN. Please see the PAN User's Guide for more information on creating testing groups. Creating testing groups will allow the ability to sort and filter to only these students to print the selected students' testing tickets and to more quickly lock/unlock students' tests.

Students in Grades 4-8 will have three test units for ELA: Writing, ELA 1 (Reading), and ELA 2 (Reading); and two test units for Math: Math 1 and Math 2. In PAN, there are two sessions at each grade level - one for ELA and one for Math. The separate units are contained within these sessions as shown in the screenshot below.

Students in Grade 3 are set up a little differently due to the Oral Reading Fluency (ORF) field test unit. Grade 3 students will have a separate session in PAN for each ELA test unit: Writing, ELA 1 (Reading), ELA 2 (Reading), and ORF as shown in the following screenshot. For Grade 3, there will be two test units for Math: Math 1 and Math 2. As with Grades 4-8, the Math units will be in one Math session.

AASA Testing Tickets for Online Testing

Each test session will have a separate testing ticket. Therefore, students in Grades 4-8 will have one ELA testing ticket and one Math testing ticket. Districts/schools may choose to print multiple copies of the testing tickets in order to provide students with a separate testing ticket for each test unit. We have heard from some districts who are printing the testing tickets for different test units on different colored paper in order to distinguish them. This is not required but is an option.

Because students in Grade 3 will have four separate ELA test sessions in PAN, there will be four separate corresponding testing tickets for ELA. Grade 3 students will have one testing ticket for Math due to having only one Math session in PAN.

AASA testing tickets are secure testing materials and must be kept in secure, locked storage when not in use. Testing tickets must be collected from students following each test unit and securely destroyed after testing. Do not allow students to test with an incorrect testing ticket. The use of an incorrect testing ticket during testing is a test security violation and will result in the student's test being invalidated. Please verify student name, session and grade, and date of birth when distributing AASA secure testing tickets.

AASA Materials Delivery

All districts and charters will receive hard copies of the AASA Test Coordinator's Manual and Test Administration Directions. Shipments will be delivered either the week of March 18th or the week of March 25th, depending on the delivery window that was selected in PAN. These manuals are also available electronically on ADE's website and in PAN under Support > Documentation.

AzSCI Test Sessions and Testing Groups

Please do not create test sessions for AzSCI. Test sessions were automatically created when students were uploaded. Newly added students should be placed in these pre-created test sessions.

AzSCI Testing Tickets

AzSCI is comprised of three test units at each grade level (Grades 5, 8, and 11/Cohort 2025). The three test units will be included in one test session in PearsonAccess Next (PAN). Each student will require one testing ticket, which will be used to access all of the test units.

AzSCI testing tickets are secure test materials and must be kept in secure, locked storage when not in use. Testing tickets must be collected from students following each test unit and securely destroyed after testing. Do not allow students to test with an incorrect testing ticket. The use of an incorrect testing ticket during testing is a test security violation and will result in the student's test being invalidated. Please verify student name, session and grade, and date of birth when distributing AzSCI secure testing tickets.

AzSCI Manuals

Hard copies of the AzSCI Test Coordinator's Manual and Test Administration Directions will not be shipped to districts automatically. A limited number of copies are available to order through PAN. These manuals are posted electronically on ADE's website and in PAN under Support > Documentation.

ACT Aspire Test Sessions and Testing Tickets

Test sessions must be created for ACT Aspire, and this task may now be completed. All students taking ACT Aspire must be assigned to a test session for each subject: English, Math, Reading, Science, and Writing, and each subject will require a separate testing ticket.

ACT Aspire test subjects may be administered in any order. ACT Aspire testing may be completed all in one day, or test units may be administered on different days. Each test subject must be completed on the day it is started within the allotted time.

ACT Aspire Manuals and Trainings

The ACT Aspire Test Coordinator Manual and Room Supervisor Manuals are available in PearsonAccess Next (PAN) under Support > Documentation. Hard copies of the ACT Aspire manuals will not be shipped and are not available to order.

Pearson has also posted two training modules in PAN: ACT Aspire Test Administration Training and ACT Aspire Online Technical Readiness.

Pearson will be holding a second Chat with an Expert session to answer your questions about ACT Aspire on March 21st at 9:00am. If you have questions about ACT Aspire, please use this link to join the session.

ACT Test Sessions, Tickets, and Seal Codes

Test sessions must be created for ACT, and this task may now be completed for Test Window 1. Test sessions for Test Window 2 may be created beginning April 3rd.

Student Authorization Tickets must be printed for each student testing. The Student Authorization Ticket contains the student's username and password to access the online test in TestNav. The student may also use the ticket as scratch paper during testing.

Seal codes are used to begin each test section of the ACT online test. Seal codes are unique to each test session. For more information, please see the ACT manuals and tutorials posted on the ACT-hosted website.

ACT test subjects must be administered in the following order: English, Math, Reading, Science, and Writing. The allotted times for standard time testing are displayed below. A 15-minute break is provided between the Math and Reading test sections. An extended break up to 45 minutes may be provided between the Science and Writing test sections. Please see the Test Coordinator Manual and Room Supervisor Manuals for additional details.

ACT Materials

ACT materials are currently being delivered to districts and charters. If your school(s) will be administering ACT during only Test Window 2, then the current shipment will include only non-secure materials, and secure materials will be delivered the week before the start of testing.

Additional Orders

The Additional Order window is currently open for Test Window 1 and will close on March 15. The Additional Order window for Test Window 2 is March 26 - 29, 2024.

MyACT

Please see the ACT website for information about students completing MyACT. Resources are included under Step 4: Preparation, under the heading "Complete Non-Test Activities." Students may complete the non-test information in MyACT before testing and up to two days after students finish testing. This may be completed on a separate day from actual testing. Students who set up a MyACT account will have the opportunity to send their ACT scores to up to 4 colleges or scholarship agencies for free and will receive their test results faster than waiting for paper score reports to be delivered to schools.

ACT Reporting Schedule

The ACT Score Report Schedule is now published on the ACT website under Step 7: Interpretation. All ACT reporting is in ACT's Online Reporting Portal at success.act.org.

For questions about AASA, please contact us at AASA@azed.gov.

For questions about AzSCI, please contact us at AzSCI@azed.gov.

For questions about ACT Aspire and ACT, please contact us at Testing@azed.gov.

Bethany Spangenberg

Deputy Associate Superintendent of Assessment

Arizona Department of Education

Joseph M. Guzman, Ph.D.

Associate Superintendent of Standards, Assessment, Accountability and Research

Arizona Department of Education

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