The Arizona Assessments Conference will be held September 17-19, 2024, at the Renaissance Phoenix Glendale Hotel and Spa, 9495 W. Entertainment Blvd., Glendale, AZ 85305.

Please bookmark the conference website for all the latest information. 

Participant registration is open. Registration is $450 per person and must be completed in the Arizona Professional Learning & Development (APLD) registration system. For more information, please visit the Registration page of our conference website.

Please note that conference substitutions are not accepted. If a participant cannot attend the event and they want someone else to take their place, the participant will need to cancel their registration and have the new participant register for the event. It is the participant's responsibility to ensure they are registered before showing up for the event. 

Guest rooms are still available at the conference hotel, Renaissance Phoenix Glendale Hotel and Spa. The group room rate is $151 per night plus applicable state taxes and is subject to availability. This room rate is available for room reservations made before August 16, 2024, or until the conference room block is sold out, whichever comes first. If you will need a guest room, please reserve it as soon as possible as the room block is expected to sell out.

The conference agenda and information about keynote speakers is published on our website. The schedule of breakout sessions will be published soon!

If you have any questions regarding the Arizona Assessments Conference, please contact us at Testing@azed.gov.

If your district or charter participated in the AASA Grade 3 ELA-Reading summer test administration, please note the following dates that reports will be available.

Training modules for Spring 2025 will be published in Pearson's Arizona Learning Management System (AzLMS) in Winter 2024-2025. More information will be included in the November edition of the Assessments Bulletin.

Spring 2024 Achievement Assessments, AASA, and AzSCI training modules will be retired August 30, 2024 and will be removed from AzLMS. Please instruct staff to download completion certificates and badges prior to this date.

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 9 - October 4, 2024. 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.

All of the statewide achievement tests, including AASA (Grades 3-8), AzSCI (Grades 5, 8, and 11/Cohort 2026), ACT Aspire (Grade 9/Cohort 2028), and ACT (Grade 11/Cohort 2026), will utilize the PearsonAccess Next and TestNav platforms. There are three distinct PearsonAccess Next websites, listed below. Links to TestNav technical requirements are also included below.

AASA and AzSCI: https://az.pearsonaccessnext.com

ACT Aspire: https://aspire.pearsonaccessnext.com

ACT: https://testadmin.act.org - will go live on November 4, 2024

Dates that the AASA, AzSCI, and ACT Aspire PearsonAccess Next websites will go live for 2024-2025 will be provided as soon as they are available. 

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. 

The new Pearson-hosted support site for ACT Aspire is now available! Access resources for ACT Aspire at https://az-support.mypearsonsupport.com/aspire/. ACT Aspire resources for Spring 2025 will be added as they are available. Additional tabs for AASA and AzSCI will be added this fall/winter.

The ACT-hosted support website for Arizona's ACT administration has not changed. Access ACT resources at https://www.act.org/content/act/en/products-and-services/state-and-district-solutions/arizona/the-act.html. ACT resources for Spring 2025 will be added as they are available. 

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 3, 2024 - February 21, 2025. Submissions must include pages of the student's current IEP or 504 Plan that indicate the need for a Special Paper Version of the test.

Braille Test Booklets (Contracted UEB with Nemeth) - 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 (18 pt. font on paper sized 14" x 18") - Please note that this is an enlarged font of the regular print paper test booklet; however, the amount of test and images per page is the same as the regular print test booklet. 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 using CTRL and + to enlarge the entire screen size and CTRL and - to decrease the entire screen size.

Regular Print Paper Test Booklets - A student who cannot access the computer for classroom work due to injury, medical condition, or visual impairments 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.).

More information about Special Paper Version test requests for AASA, AzSCI, and ACT Aspire will be sent to District Test Coordinators prior to the request window opening.

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 2024-2025 accommodations requests on September 16, 2024. Additional information will be provided soon.

The following additional accommodations requests must be submitted to ADE for review and approval between September 3, 2024 - February 21, 2025.

Schools may utilize both ACT test windows in order to assess all Cohort 2026 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.

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 must be made by test coordinators in ACT's PearsonAccess Next platform in November 2024. More information will be coming soon!

ACT and ADE have scheduled the following webinars for test coordinators in preparation for Spring 2025 testing. Webinar registration links are coming soon!

Each webinar will be recorded and published on the ACT-hosted website for Arizona following the live event.

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 or ACT, please contact us at Testing@azed.gov.

If you have any questions about Alternate Assessments, please contact us at AlternateAssessment@azed.gov.

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. AZELLA Placement testing can begin after the DTC, STCs, and Test Administrators complete their requirements associated with the Annual and Placement requirements. 

New AZELLA District Test Coordinators will receive an email from Adobe Learning Manager admin@adobelearningmanager.com, with the subject as, "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 2024-2025 Understand Scoring training and qualifications for the Kindergarten Placement Test Administrators and the Grade 1 and Grades 2-3 Placement Writing Scorers is now accessed through the AzLMS. The previous (2023-2024) Understand Scoring site was shut down by Pearson on May 10, 2024.

The Understand Scoring content, training, practice, and qualification sets have not changed. The secure content of Understand Scoring remains in place. Starting with school year 2024-2025, once users sign into the AzLMS, they see Understand Scoring in the Catalog. The key code is required to access the 3 different qualifications. The key code for the 2024-2025 school year is case sensitive and the same for all 3 qualifications. Key Code = 2425azella. AZELLA DTCs can reset Understand Scoring qualification sets at the local level. Directions for resetting the qualification sets is in the AzLMS. The AZELLA DTC must "Enroll" in one of the 3 courses and enter the keyword. After doing just these 2 steps, the Resources links will be activated. Please contact the AZELLA Team if you encounter challenges with this task.

Please refer to the Eligibility for the AZELLA Placement Test document for a detailed description of the students who require the administration of the Placement Test.

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) of the test, additional accommodations, or who 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 2024-2025 and Spring 2025 Reassessment) for the school year. Please submit this request form by August 30, 2024, 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 30.

Please note: For students who are eligible for Alternate Assessments, AZELLA District Test Coordinators must contact their district's Alternate Assessment District Test Coordinator.

*AZELLA requests for Additional Accommodations for students who require a braille test for Spring 2025 must be submitted as soon as possible to ensure that the student or students are included in ADE's Braille Kit count.

Kindergarten students from SY 2023-2024 and retained in Kindergarten for SY 2024-2025 are not permitted to be administered the Kindergarten Placement Test (KPT).

Schools must verify that a new student doesn't already have an SSID before obtaining one though 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 personal 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.

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 1 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:

PLEASE NOTE: Districts will be able to access a student's EL70 Report within 2 calendar weeks prior to their school enrollment date 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 had synchronized the student's school enrollment to AzEDS. 

When emailing AZELLA@azed.gov, please:

The AZELLA Team strives to respond to emails within one business day unless further research is needed.

If you have any questions about AZELLA, please contact us at AZELLA@azed.gov.

The United States and more than 80 other countries and education systems will participate in the 2025 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA). PISA is the largest international education study in the world and measures the mathematics, reading, and science literacy of students nearing the end of compulsory education. PISA 2025 will also introduce a new domain called Learning in a Digital World that asks students to engage in problem-solving tasks. Schools selected for participation will be notified. 

A theme that is becoming more prevalent in Arizona is that the samples of schools chosen have been growing. Schools in Arizona are becoming more representative of the United States. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Maricopa County continues to be the largest growing county and is now the 4th largest county in the United States by population. The schools in Maricopa County are highly representative of the nation. As our population has grown, so has our likelihood of being included in National and International testing.

The Nation's Report Card is set to be released in January 2025. This will include Arizona-specific data on what our students know and can do in Grades 4 and 8, math and reading. The last release of Arizona-specific data, in 2022, found that schools in Arizona have the National Average of proficiency among states.

If you have any questions, please contact Mr. Gary McIlvaine, AZ Director of NAEP and International Assessments.

602-364-1538