I hope 2025 is going well so far!

The AZELLA Reassessment and Alt ELPA Summative assessments are now open. Other test windows will be opening soon. We look forward to supporting you and your schools. As we are preparing for test administration, please make sure you pay attention to the important information in this Assessments Bulletin and share relevant information with School Test Coordinators, administrators, and teachers.

This summer, the Assessments Unit will have several educator committees for many of our statewide assessments. If you would like to participate, please fill out the Educator Committee Application. Please also share this link with your colleagues. If you have previously filled out the application and any of your contact information or roles have changed since then, please submit a new application. We thank you for your willingness to be a part of our assessment process.

Any homeschooled student who is not enrolled in the Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) program is eligible to participate in the statewide assessments at their local school. A homeschooled student who is also a participant in the ESA program is not eligible to participate in statewide assessments. When parents inquire about participation in statewide testing for their homeschooled student, it is important to determine whether the student is in ESA. If you have any questions, please contact us at Testing@azed.gov.

We want to remind you that the use of generative AI on state assessments is prohibited. Please let us know if you have any questions about accessibility features for state assessments.

Also, please be aware that some meetings we host will not allow the use of AI notetakers. A notification that the use of AI notetakers is not allowed will be provided to participants when relevant. This only applies to meetings that involve secure test content or Personally Identifiable Information (PII). AI notetakers will be removed from these meetings. However, many of our webinars will continue to allow the use of AI notetakers since secure content and PII will not be included in the information shared.  

We have received several questions about changes for next school year. Please join us on May 2 for the final Friday Focus Webinar of this school year, during which we will share updates for the 2025-2026 school year. Please visit the Friday Focus website for the link to register.

Refer to the schedules linked below for each assessment's upcoming tasks and deadlines. Each schedule is published on the Achievement District Test Coordinator (DTC) page of our website. 

The Achievement Assessments team has scheduled the following optional Office Hours sessions. Each session will be held on Wednesdays, 1:00-1:30pm. Registration is available in the ADE Professional Learning & Development (APLD) system using the registration links below. A Teams meeting invitation will be sent to all registered attendees prior to each session.

All Achievement District Test Coordinators (DTCs) must complete training modules in Pearson's Arizona Learning Management System (AzLMS) as soon as possible and no later than February 21, 2025. All other testing staff must receive training prior to administering any tests. Refer to the Achievement Assessments Training Requirements for guidance in determining which training modules must be completed by each user role. ADE strongly recommends that users download the accompanying PowerPoint and transcript files associated with each applicable training module to refer to throughout the test administration.

ADE will track that all DTCs have completed training within AzLMS. It is the responsibility of the DTC to track training completion for other staff in the district or charter. Other staff may complete training within AzLMS, or DTCs may choose to train staff in a group setting. Tracking reports are available in AzLMS, or staff training completion may be tracked outside of AzLMS. This flexibility is left to the district or charter, but tracking must be in a format that can be provided to ADE upon request, if needed.

For additional information about using the AzLMS system, refer to the "Using the LMS Learner Portal" and "Managing Learners in the LMS" modules located in the AZLMS.

In Spring 2025, all of the Achievement Assessments will utilize the PearsonAccess Next (PAN) platform and the TestNav application. PAN is the site where the test administration details will be managed, and the TestNav application is the test delivery platform. There are three different PAN websites (linked below), with three separate logins, depending on the grade level of students in your district or charter. All three PAN sites are now open for Spring 2025 test administration tasks. 

Refer to the links below for TestNav technical requirements.

All devices used for testing must have the latest version of the TestNav application installed. TestNav can be downloaded at http://download.testnav.com/.

Requests for Special Paper Version (SPV) tests for AASA, AzSCI, and ACT Aspire, including braille, large print, or regular print tests, must be submitted to ADE for review by February 21, 2025 using the secure online form: https://www.azed.gov/assessment/spv2025. A copy of the student's IEP or 504 Plan must be uploaded with the request.

For students who take the braille form of AASA, a new option is available to provide the AASA Reading test units in uncontracted braille format. The AASA Writing and Math test units will continue to be provided in contracted braille format. Refer to this FAQ document for additional information, and contact us at AASA@azed.gov with any questions.

Requests for additional accommodations for AASA, AzSCI, and ACT Aspire should be submitted to ADE for review by February 21, 2025, using this secure online form: https://www.azed.gov/assessment/achievement_aa_fy25. Requests for additional accommodations should not include Universal Test Administration Conditions or Universal Tools, which are available for all students. Refer to the Achievement Assessments Accommodations Manual for additional information about AASA and AzSCI Universal Test Administration Conditions and Universal Tools. Refer to the ACT Aspire Accessibility Supports Guide for additional information about ACT Aspire accommodations.

Contact us if a student has an injury or illness after February 21, 2025, that necessitates a paper test or additional accommodation. Specific accommodations will be considered based on a doctor's written recommendation and the appropriateness for statewide testing. 

Students should be provided ample opportunities to practice with the Sample Tests so they can become familiar with the test features, tools, and different question types in the online tests. Sample Tests for each assessment can be accessed at https://home.testnav.com using the instructions below. Login information is not required.

ADE has completed the state student uploads in PearsonAccess Next (PAN) for AASA, ACT Aspire, and ACT. ADE's student upload for AzSCI will be visible in PAN on February 17. Following each state upload, Achievement DTCs should be verifying that all students who are eligible for testing have been uploaded, and if not, Achievement DTCs need to ensure that all eligible students are added to the appropriate PAN site in preparation for Spring testing.

Please note the following about ADE's student uploads for the Achievement tests:

Reports are available in ADEConnect to identify the students who need to be administered an Achievement Assessment. To access these reports in ADEConnect, select Assessments > Achievement Reports, then select the Eligibility Report for the appropriate assessment.

AASA, AzSCI, and ACT Aspire all use the Work Request process in PearsonAccess Next (PAN) when students need to be transferred from one school to another. Refer to the AASA and AzSCI PearsonAccess Next User's Guide and/or the ACT Aspire Test Coordinator Manual for additional details about the Work Request process for these assessments.

Achievement DTCs should check each PAN site regularly for work requests that may be waiting for approval by looking for the red bell at the top of the screen.

The Work Request process is not utilized for student transfers for the ACT test. For ACT, use the Enroll or Unenroll Students template, located in ACT's PearsonAccess Next under Support > Documentation. A support request will need to be submitted to ACT within PearsonAccess Next with the completed spreadsheet. ACT will then check to see if a student has already completed testing before processing the support request. Requests are typically processed within 24-48 hours. More information about submitting an ACT support request is available on the ACT website under Step 2: Configuration and in this ACT tutorial.

The AASA Test Coordinator's Manual (TCM) and the AASA Test Administration Directions (TAD) for both computer-based testing schools and paper-based testing schools are published on the Achievement DTC webpage and on the AASA webpage, under "Spring 2025 Manuals and Checklists."

Districts and charters will receive hard copies of the AASA manuals, based on the participation counts entered in PearsonAccess Next (PAN) in January. Manuals will be delivered during the selected materials delivery window. If a materials delivery window was not selected in January, then the materials will be delivered in the first delivery window option (March 17-20).

Beginning with the Spring 2025 AASA test administration, the Grade 3 ELA Oral Reading Fluency test unit will be an operational test unit and will be included in each Grade 3 student's ELA score and in the Move on When Reading (MOWR) indicator. Computer-based testing schools must complete the Oral Reading Fluency test administration by April 11, 2025. Paper-based testing schools must complete the Oral Reading Fluency test administration by April 9, 2025.

Both computer-based testing schools and paper-based testing schools will administer the Oral Reading Fluency test unit online in TestNav. A maximum of six students may be present in the secure testing classroom or computer lab environment, simultaneously testing. Additional resources, listed and linked below, are available on the AASA webpage under "Grade 3 Oral Reading Fluency."

It is strongly recommended that all Grade 3 students interact with the AASA Grade 3 ELA Oral Reading Fluency sample test multiple times to be comfortable with the testing style; how to operate the platform, including starting their own recording and not stopping it too soon; and to be comfortable with wearing the headset to make a clear and concise recording of their reading samples. 

When taking the Oral Reading Fluency test unit, each student will read three separate passages, with a time limit of one minute per passage. New in Spring 2025, students will read a short practice passage after they complete the microphone check and before they begin recording the operational Oral Reading Fluency passages. Test Administrators may assist students and answer questions while students are recording the practice passage. A new practice passage has also been added to the Grade 3 Oral Reading Fluency sample test.

AASA Writing Resources are published on the AASA and the Educator Resources webpages. Refer to the AASA Writing Resources - Descriptions document for details about the Writing Rubrics, Writing Guides, Writing Rubric Guides, and the Annotated Writing Sample Guides.

The following chart lists the number of testing tickets that will be required for students taking the AASA. This setup is the same as it was in Spring 2024 with Grade 3 students requiring additional testing tickets due to the Oral Reading Fluency (ORF) test unit.

ADE has uploaded students for AASA in PearsonAccess Next (PAN). Online test sessions were created automatically in the upload process, and students were placed into the appropriate sessions for the grade level indicated. ADE will move students approved for a Special Paper Version (SPV) or American Sign Language (ASL) test into the approved SPV or ASL test sessions.

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 will be only two sessions for Grades 4-8 students: one for ELA and one for Math. During testing, all ELA test units will be accessed under the one session for ELA (with one testing ticket) and all Math test units under the one session for Math (with one testing ticket).

Students in Grade 3 are set up a little differently in PAN due to the Oral Reading Fluency 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 Oral Reading Fluency. Each will require a separate testing ticket. 

For Grade 3, there will be two test units for Math: Math 1 and Math 2. As with Grades 4-8, these units will be in one Math session, requiring one student testing ticket.

Reminder: All AASA ELA test units (Writing, ELA-Reading 1, ELA-Reading 2, and Oral Reading Fluency, if applicable) must have a valid score to receive an ELA score. Both AASA Math test units must have a valid score to receive a Math score. To receive a valid score, students must respond to at least one item in each test unit.

Schools administering AASA paper-based tests will receive ELA and Math Pre-ID Labels for any students that have been uploaded to PearsonAccess Next (PAN) by February 21, 2025. Pre-ID Labels will be sent in a separate shipment from paper test booklets, but both shipments will be delivered within the same week in March.

Pre-ID Labels must be affixed to student test booklets prior to testing. Take care to apply ELA Pre-ID Labels to ELA test booklets and Math Pre-ID Labels to Math test booklets. Additional Pre-ID Labels are not available. Students who do not receive a Pre-ID Label or whose Pre-ID Label contains any incorrect information must have their student demographic information bubbled in on the back of their test booklets prior to testing and must be updated in PAN.

AASA Testing Groups and Reporting Groups are optional functions in PearsonAccess Next (PAN). The deadline to create Testing Groups and Reporting Groups is April 25, the last day of the AASA testing window.

Testing Groups can be used to group students by classroom, teacher, or testing days. Testing Groups are useful for quickly locating a group of students in test sessions in PAN. Students may be in only one Testing Group at a time. 

Reporting Groups can be used to group students by classroom, teacher, or testing days for reporting purposes. Students may be in more than one Reporting Group. The AASA student data file and the new Summary Cluster Performance Report can display up to five Reporting Groups for a student.

See the PearsonAccess Next User's Guide for instructions on creating Testing Groups and Reporting Groups. An updated AASA Reporting Guide is coming soon!

The Summer 2025 AASA Grade 3 ELA-Reading test window will be June 9, 2025 - July 18, 2025. This test window provides an additional reading demonstration tool and is available for Grade 3 students who fail to meet the Spring 2025 Move on When Reading (MOWR) indicator and who do not qualify for one of the good cause exemptions related to students with IEPs, a diagnosis of dyslexia, or being an English learner (EL).

The Grade 3 summer test will be in the computer-based test format and will include the Reading units of the AASA ELA test only, including Reading Unit 1, Reading Unit 2, and Oral Reading Fluency. The Reading units will include Listening items. The summer test will not include writing prompts.

For questions about the Summer 2025 AASA Grade 3 ELA-Reading test administration, ADE's assessments team will be holding an Office Hours session on May 7, 1:00-1:30pm. Registration is available in APLD.

The AzSCI Test Coordinator's Manual (TCM) and the AzSCI Test Administration Directions (TAD) are published on the Achievement DTC webpage and on the AzSCI webpage, under "Manuals and Checklists."

Hard copies of the AzSCI manuals will not be shipped automatically to districts and charters. A limited number of copies are available for order during the AzSCI Additional Order window, which opens on February 24. The manuals may also be downloaded and used electronically from ADE's website and from PearsonAccess Next.

District Test Coordinators must verify their contact information and shipping address in PearsonAccess Next no later than February 21, 2025. Any changes to contact information or shipping address must be made by notifying ADE at AzSCI@azed.gov.

Students in Grades 5, 8, and 11 (Cohort 2026) will have three test units for AzSCI. There will be one test session in PearsonAccess Next (PAN) that includes all three test units. Students will use one testing ticket to access the three units. 

The approximate time for each test unit is 60-90 minutes. If more than one test unit is administered on the same day, a significant break of at least 15 minutes must be provided between test units. 

ADE's student upload will be visible in PearsonAccess Next (PAN) on February 17, 2025. When students are uploaded to PAN for AzSCI, the test sessions are created automatically, and students are placed into those sessions based on their grade level.

Reminder: All AzSCI test units must have a valid score to receive an AzSCI score. To receive a valid score, students must respond to at least one item in each test unit.

The ACT Aspire Test Coordinator Manual and ACT Aspire Room Supervisor Manual - Paper are published on the Arizona ACT Aspire Support Page and on the Achievement DTC webpage. Hard copies of the ACT Aspire manuals will not be shipped to districts and charters. The manuals may be downloaded and printed locally, or they may be used electronically for test administration. These manuals should be used when training staff for ACT Aspire test administration. The ACT Aspire Room Supervisor Manual - Online is coming soon!

Districts and charters administering ACT Aspire paper-based tests, including any Special Paper Version (braille, large print, or regular print) tests should verify their shipping address in PearsonAccess Next now. If any changes are needed to the shipping address, please notify ADE at Testing@azed.gov no later than February 7, 2025 to ensure paper testing materials are delivered appropriately.

Schools administering ACT Aspire paper-based tests will receive preprinted barcode labels for any students that have been uploaded to PearsonAccess Next (PAN) by February 7, 2025. Barcode labels will be sent in a separate shipment from paper test booklets and answer documents, but both shipments will be delivered within the same week in March. If barcode labels are not received for any students, or if any barcode labels are incorrect, the student demographic information will need to be bubbled in on the student's answer documents and must also be updated in PAN.

Any approved Special Paper Version tests for ACT Aspire must be administered within the shorter paper-based testing window, including for schools that are otherwise administering online tests. Student responses from braille and large print tests must be transferred to a regular answer document for scoring. The deadline for ACT Aspire to receive all paper testing materials for scoring is April 16, 2025.

Test sessions for ACT Aspire were not automatically created when students were uploaded to PearsonAccess Next. This step will need to be completed by schools/districts. Please see the ACT Aspire Test Coordinator Manual for details. Students must be placed in a separate session and will have a separate testing ticket for each ACT Aspire test section. 

ACT Aspire is a timed test. The test sections may be administered on the same day, or they may be administered on different days. This flexibility is left up to schools/districts. If administering on the same day, a break may be scheduled between the test sections. In addition, the test sections for ACT Aspire may be administered in any order. The test sections include English, Math, Reading, Science, and Writing. 

The ACT Test Coordinator Manual and ACT Test Administration Manuals are published on the ACT-hosted website for Arizona under Step 5: Administration. Hard copies of the manuals will be shipped to districts and charters according to the materials delivery window selected in PearsonAccess Next. These manuals should be used when training staff for ACT test administration.

All Achievement DTCs with students in Grade 11/Cohort 2026 are expected to view the three ACT-hosted webinars, either by attending the live webinars or by viewing the recordings. Two webinars were held in the fall, Test Administration #1 and Accommodations, and are now available on demand. The third webinar, Test Administration #2, will be held on February 19, 2025, at 9:00am. Registration links to all three webinars are also available through the ACT Schedule of Events. 

ACT accommodations requests must be submitted in ACT's Test Accessibility and Accommodations (TAA) system no later than February 7, 2025. This is a firm deadline. Please submit any remaining ACT accommodations requests for your students as soon as possible. Requests for reconsideration must be submitted by February 14, 2025. Requests for qualified exceptions to the deadline must be submitted by March 21, 2025.

Please contact us at Testing@azed.gov if a student enrolls after the submission deadlines and requires accommodations for ACT. If the student has transferred from another Arizona district or from another state, ADE and ACT can research to determine if accommodations were approved for the student at their previous school.

ACT has scheduled several Office Hours sessions through March 18, 2025 to answer questions about ACT-approved accommodations. Register for upcoming sessions or view previous sessions on demand through ACT's Webcasts page.

ADE has uploaded Cohort 2026 students to ACT's PearsonAccess Next platform. Please review your student list and confirm that all students eligible for testing have been uploaded. If any students need to be added to PearsonAccess Next, a support request will need to be submitted to ACT using ACT's Enroll or Unenroll Students form. More information about submitting an ACT support request is available on the ACT website under Step 2: Configuration and in this ACT Tutorial.

All schools administering the online ACT test are strongly encouraged to complete a mock administration to ensure that devices are ready for testing. More information is available on the ACT website under Step 2: Configuration.

Test sessions for ACT were not automatically created when students were uploaded to PearsonAccess Next. This step will need to be completed by schools/districts according to the timeline provided in the ACT Schedule of Events and the resources included on the ACT website under Step 4: Preparation.

Student Authorization Tickets will need to be printed before test day and provided to the Room Supervisor the day of testing. Seal codes are used to begin each ACT test session. 

Schools administering ACT paper-based tests will receive preprinted barcode labels for any students that have been uploaded to PearsonAccess Next (PAN) by February 14, 2025. If barcode labels are not received for any students, or if any information on the barcode labels is incorrect, the student's demographic information will need to be bubbled in on the student's answer documents and must also be updated in PAN. 

Depending on the test date selected in PearsonAccess Next, the initial shipment of ACT materials may include only non-secure materials, or it may include all testing materials, both non-secure and secure. If only non-secure materials are delivered in the initial shipment, the secure materials will arrive the week before the start of testing.

ACT is a timed test. Test sections must be administered in the following order: English (1), Math (2), Reading (3), Science (4), and Writing (5).

For ACT standard time testing and ACT extended time testing on one test day, a 15-minute break is provided between Test 2 and Test 3. An extended break of up to 45 minutes may be given between Test 4 and the Writing test. Lunch may be provided during this extended break.

ACT tests with approved accommodations for testing over multiple days must be completed within the same test window in which they are started.

MyACT is the platform for examinees to submit non-test information to ACT. This non-test information allows a student to send their scores, free of charge, to four colleges or scholarship agencies of their choice, and also allows students to receive their ACT scores faster than waiting for paper reports from their school. ACT recommends hosting an in-school session for students to create a MyACT account and to complete the non-test information online. This may be completed prior to test day and no later than two days after completion of their ACT test. Refer to the MyACT resources on the ACT website under Step 4: Preparation.

The Arizona State Board of Education has approved a process whereby an ACT score replacement request may be granted for highly performing students who demonstrate competency prior to the statewide test window. When a Cohort 2026 student has an ACT test score obtained on a national test date within their Junior/11th grade school year that meets or exceeds Arizona's ACT cut scores for the content areas of ELA and Math, the national test date score report may be used to replace the statewide ACT assessment.

The ACT score replacement request is intended for students with high scores who are concerned that an additional test score would have an impact to their post-secondary opportunities and should be used sparingly. The score replacement allows the student to use the score obtained on a national or district ACT test date for accountability purposes, rather than Arizona's statewide assessment date, subject to ADE's review and approval, using the follow criteria: 

The deadline for schools, districts, or charters to submit ACT score replacement requests to ADE is March 21, 2025. Requests must be submitted by the school or district using the secure online form, and a copy of the student's ACT score report (either the student or the high school copy) must be uploaded with the request. A signed parent consent form must also be uploaded with the request. ADE's Assessment team will confirm the score report with ACT and will respond to the Achievement District Test Coordinator regarding the final decision. 

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.

Please refer to the Alternate Assessment Test Coordinator Handbook for instructions and activities throughout the testing window. District Test Coordinators must also be familiar with the State Specific Policy and with collecting and retaining the Alternate Assessment Test Security Agreement for Test Administrators before the administration of Alt ELPA and MSAA.

Additionally, please note that students who are eligible for alternate assessments will also be uploaded into PearsonAccess Next (PAN) for all Statewide Assessments. Students eligible for alternate assessments should remain untested in PAN. The Alternate Assessment District Test Coordinator must communicate with the AZELLA and Achievement District Test Coordinators to ensure students are administered the correct assessment. 

ADE works with contractors to conduct Alt ELPA and MSAA observations. Additionally, the Assessment Unit will conduct observations for state assessments. You will be notified by the Alternate Assessment Team if your LEA was selected for observations. These observations are required. Alternate Assessment District Test Coordinators or a designee must also observe at least one Alt ELPA and one MSAA administration and submit the responses from the MSAA and Alt ELPA observation protocols using the Microsoft Forms for Alt ELPA and MSAA.

Alt ELPA is the Alternate English Language Proficiency Assessment for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities. If a student participates in Alt ELPA, they do not take AZELLA. All students taking the Alt ELPA Summative must have a current ELP test record including AZELLA Placement Test, Alt ELPA Screener, or participation in the AZELLA Reassessment or Alt ELPA Summative last school year.

Alt ELPA training modules are available in the LMS. Be sure to complete Alt ELPA training modules, not the ELPA21 training modules. All users must download and save the certificate of completion to be eligible for professional development hours.

The Alt ELPA is administered through TIDE in the Cambium portal. The portal has additional resources, including user guides and technology requirements for the assessment. All users from the Test Administrator list in the Alternate Assessment Portal have been uploaded to TIDE. District Test Coordinators may add and remove users as needed.

MSAA is administered in Grades 3-8 and 11 for ELA and Mathematics and Grades 5, 8, and 11 for Science. Students who are eligible for the alternate assessments do not participate in AASA, AzSCI, ACT Aspire, or ACT.

The MSAA system will open for training on February 18, 2025. Test Coordinator and Test Administrator accounts will be created no later than February 17, 2025. Once Test Coordinators have access, they may create accounts for any additional users directly in the MSAA system. Please refer to the MSAA User Guide for Test Coordinators for instructions. 

The MSAA is administered in the MSAA system. On February 18, users will have access to training modules, student lists, and secure test materials so they can download documents and gather items needed for test administration. 

IEP teams must determine eligibility for Alternate Assessments before November 29 (close of the Student Selector Application) to allow for suitable instructional time before test administration. If a student was determined eligible for Alternate Assessments but was not identified in the Student Selector Application, please see below.

Letters will be accepted now for Alt ELPA Summative and starting February 18 for MSAA (the Handbook states February 26, but we will start processing letters on February 18). Students on your Alt ELPA letter in January will also be added to MSAA if they are enrolled in tested grades. Your February MSAA letter should only include students who were not already requested for Alt ELPA. Teachers should not be responsible for writing or submitting this letter to the DTC or the State. This task is the role of the DTC. Letters should be emailed to the Alternate Assessment Team at AlternateAssessment@azed.gov.

To remove students who are no longer eligible or no longer enrolled, please send an email to AlternateAssessment@azed.gov and include the SSIDs of the students and the reason they need to be removed from the testing platforms.

ADE must take additional steps to support and provide appropriate oversight to each LEA that assesses more than 1% of its assessed students in ELA, Mathematics, or Science in a school year using an alternate assessment aligned with alternate academic achievement standards. This means that we will continue our monitoring through the 1% Threshold application and submission of Action Plans.

The first notification has been sent to all Alternate Assessment Test Coordinators and includes instructions to submit information used to determine eligibility for selected students. Student lists in the application apply to the 2024 administration and will not be changed. Student information is required even if the student is no longer participating in alternate assessments or is no longer enrolled in your LEA because the monitoring is for eligibility determinations before the student participated in MSAA. Eligibility information was due January 31, 2025. A second notification will be sent with instructions on submitting an Action Plan based on your designated tier. More information is provided in the 1% Threshold Presentation. There are notes on each slide of the presentation; please turn on the notes setting to view.

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

It is strongly recommended that all students taking the online Spring Reassessment Test and Test Administrators prepare for the test by taking the Sample Tests. AZELLA online Sample Tests can be accessed through the web browser version of TestNav at https://az.testnav.com/client/index.html or through the dedicated application that must be downloaded on all the computers and electronic devices that will be used for testing. A Username and Password are not needed for the Sample Tests. The digital kits (Student Test Book, audio files, and Teacher's Edition) of the Kindergarten, Grade 1, and Grades 2-3 Unit 4 Sample Test, as well as the Grades 4-12 Teacher's Edition are available for downloading at https://www.azed.gov/assessment/azella.

Districts and Charters who completed the Reassessment Participation Counts in December 2024 received an initial shipment of Kindergarten, Grade 1, and Grades 2-3 Spring 2025 AZELLA Reassessment Test materials during the week of January 13, 2025. This included district and school test materials, return shipping materials, the Test Coordinator's Manual, and Pre-ID Labels for those Grades K-3 students who were on the EL73 Report as of January 3, 2025.

If the Reassessment paper test materials received are not enough to test all students who need to be administered the test, the DTC may place an additional order for the district in PAN during the Additional Order window. Districts and Charters who serve Grades K-3 EL students and did not receive an initial shipment of the Kindergarten, Grade 1, and Grades 2-3 Spring 2025 AZELLA Reassessment Test materials are expected to submit an order through PAN. ADE will review and approve additional orders. KEEP all the Pearson boxes to reuse for return shipping.

The Additional Order window for testing materials closes February 28, 2025. Return shipping materials (e.g., labels and boxes) will continue to be available to order through PAN until March 14, 2025.

ADE and Pearson will be ordering and shipping all Special Paper Version (SPV), Large Print, and Braille test materials to districts that have been approved for these materials. 

The Kindergarten, Grade 1, and Grades 2-3 Reassessment Pre-ID Label files were generated by Pearson based on the EL73 Report from January 3, 2025, and arrived at districts by January 21, 2025. The Pre-ID Labels were shipped separately from the boxes of paper testing materials. Not all Kindergarten, Grade 1, and Grades 2-3 students who must be tested received a Pre-ID Label. Additional Pre-ID Labels cannot be ordered. Instead, the student data grid on the back cover of the student test book must be bubbled in by an adult for Grades K-3 students who are required to be tested and did not receive a Pre-ID Label and for students whose Pre-ID Label contains incorrect information and, therefore, cannot be used. 

Please refer to the DTC-STC training module and the Spring 2025 AZELLA Reassessment Test Coordinator's Manual for detailed information about Pre-ID Labels. 

There are no provisions, in either state or federal law, that would allow the exemption of AZELLA testing for eligible students who are enrolled in the Special Education program and require an AZELLA test. An IEP Team, which should include a specialist trained in Language Acquisition, may NOT exempt a student from participating in AZELLA testing. 

All dually enrolled EL/SPED students must be provided the opportunity to make an earnest attempt at all the AZELLA domains tested. Review the Universal Test Administration Conditions and Accommodations for Students with Disabilities in the November 2024 AZELLA Accommodations Manual. Districts should have submitted requests for EL students who have an IEP or 504 Plan which require additional accommodations, including Large Print, Special Paper Version (SPV), ASL, and Braille, during the Fall 2024 semester. ADE Assessments has responded to AZELLA DTCs with approved accommodations. If the AZELLA DTC has not received a response to a request, they should ensure that ADE has not asked the district for additional information. 

Currently, ADE is only accepting requests for additional accommodations for newly enrolled and transfer students since the deadline to submit requests was December 13, 2024. For additional accommodations requests submitted for newly enrolled and transfer students, ADE will respond to the DTC or request additional information. Do not administer an AZELLA test to the student for whom the request has been submitted until ADE responds to the request. 

The Transferred Student with an EL Need form must be used throughout the Reassessment Test window for all K-12 students who transfer during the Spring Reassessment Test window. This form helps the DTC determine if the student needs to be administered an AZELLA Placement Test, the AZELLA Reassessment Test, or if the student does not need to be tested with either AZELLA test. 

The Spring 2025 Reassessment materials must be returned to the Pearson warehouses as Scorable and Nonscorable at the close of the Reassessment Test window. Pearson has provided prepaid UPS shipping labels for Scorable and Nonscorable testing materials. It is critical to ensure that the Scorable and Nonscorable materials have the correct shipping labels adhered to the boxes. Explicit directions for packing the boxes for return shipping are included in the Spring 2025 AZELLA Reassessment Test Coordinator's Manual (TCM). Materials must be picked up and shipped out no later than March 21, 2025.

ADE is completing a study to ensure that the AZELLA test items meet the expectations necessary for inclusion on the AZELLA test. Field tests are critical to the production of high-quality assessments. 

Participating districts and charters have been notified and are already administering the Spring 2025 AZELLA Native Speaker Field Test to their selected students. Since the results of this field test will be used exclusively to inform the development of the AZELLA, no results will be provided to districts, schools, parents, or students. 

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

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

602-364-1583