Is your state a part of the WIDA consortium? Whether or not your state has been WIDA-fied, your multilingual students likely participate in some sort of annual language proficiency exam. In my state, our students complete the ACCESS for ELLs test every January-February. We have almost finished up all of our testing and we’re looking forward to seeing the results in a couple of months!

Though all of the materials are created and sent from the testing company, it is up to US– the ESL/ELL teachers– to create the schedule, organize materials, and communicate about this test with the rest of the staff! So, here’s some of the things that my team and I did to get prepared:

1. Look at your caseload

How many students will need to test? Remember, each student will take 4 different tests. Use the guidelines laid out on WIDA’s website and the test administration manual to first determine how many groups you will need to plan for when taking the listening and reading tests. If you’ve never administered this test before and want an idea of how long it could take, here’s an example: with 4-5 teachers as test administrators and around 250 students, it usually takes us 3-4 weeks to test all of our K-5 students. 

2. Create a skeleton overview plan

Determine which tests will be the focus for each school day. In our school, we tried to fit in two grade levels each day for the listening and reading tests. This year we did just one grade level per day for writing and for speaking tests. It has worked really well so far!

3. Break down the schedule for each day of the reading and listening tests

Get specific about which classes or students will test each day for the receptive language tests. Don’t worry about writing & speaking just yet! Make decisions about the who, what, and where of each day. Who will test? Who will administer it? Which test will they take? Where will they take the test?

4. Add in time for make-up testing

Absences are inevitable, so make some wiggle room in your schedule to allow for some make-up testing! In the past we have reserved Fridays for make-up testing, but this year we chose to test everyone only in the mornings and reserved afternoons for make-up testing and kindergarten testing. It has worked so smoothly!

5. Create a shared to-do list

If you work on a team, a shared “to-do” list is a MUST! We keep ours on a Google Doc and share it with our building assessment coordinator, as well, because she’s the one who prints our test tickets and manages all of our materials. This is the place where you will go to write down absolutely any minor detail that needs an action step, such as missing test tickets, students who were called to the office in the middle of their test, requests to print speaking & writing tiers, requesting labels on writing booklets, etc. It’s a hub for everything!

6. Create a domain checklist and log absent students

I created a digital version of this for our team to use, and it’s been a lifesaver for communicating with 5 other test administrators! Using Google Sheets, we log each student as they complete a test and note the students who were absent. You can get this checklist and lots of other digital templates here. Once students make up a missed test, we simply erase their name from the make-up list and check the box for the test they finished. It’s a quick and easy way to ensure that all tests have been completed!

If you want to see our checklist in action, go to my Instagram account and check out the “Schedule” highlight.

7. Share with the school

I think it is so important to clue the rest of the school in to the hard work our MLs are doing, so our team shares our digital schedule with the whole staff and we communicate with our grade level teams to share the nitty-gritty details. That way, teachers and students aren’t blindsided when we come to pull students yet again for their fourth test of the month! It’s so easy to share a schedule through Google, and since it’s a living document, we don’t have to re-share it every time we make a change. I’m such a huge fan of sharing through Google!

8. Gather physical materials

Our building assessment coordinator is the queen of organization, so we have had all of our materials in organized ziploc bags, folders, and crates. I suggest doing what she did with test tickets: choose a different color paper for each language domain to print test tickets, and separate them by grade levels in plastic baggies. Also, put scripts, seating charts, rosters, and test tickets in folders for each grade level. Create a manila envelope for used test tickets and reserve another envelope for make-up test tickets. Super simple, streamlined, and organized!

9. Communicate with families

Share with the families of your students what tests will be taken each day, so that they can send their children to school on time and prepared for a great day of testing! Here’s an example of the overview schedule that I sent to our families during our second week of testing (which included translated text in the caption beneath it):

10. Later: Break down the schedule for each day for the writing & speaking tests

Depending on the grade levels you will be testing, you will need to wait to schedule these tests until you know what tiers they are in as a result of the listening & reading tests. Once you have that information, create a specific schedule for who, what, and where these tests will take place. Don’t forget to use the specifics from the test administration manual when considering your group sizes for these tests!

Because of all of our planning upfront, we have had an incredibly smooth ACCESS testing season! Now, we wait… and wait… to see the fruit of our labor in April-ish, when the scores will be released. 

If you’re looking for planning templates just like the ones that I created for my team, you can find them here.

If you’re looking for something to do with your students to prepare THEM for the test, you can read all about what I did to prepare them here.

Here’s to a smooth, calm, and joyful testing season!