WIDA Alternate ACCESS
WIDA Alternate ACCESS (Alternate ACCESS) is a large-print, pencil-and-paper test individually administered to students in grades K-12 who are identified as English learners with the most significant cognitive disabilities. Alternate ACCESS is intended for English learners who participate, or who would be likely to participate, in their state's alternate content assessment(s).
Alternate ACCESS meets U.S. federal requirements under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 2004 (IDEA) and the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) for monitoring and reporting English learners’ progress toward English language proficiency.
Important! Refer to your member/state page for information on how to use Alternate ACCESS in your state.
Participation
In order to reliably assess the language proficiency of English learners with disabilities, students’ Individualized Education Program (IEP) and 504 teams must determine whether the student should take one of the following, with or without accommodations:
- WIDA ACCESS Paper
- WIDA ACCESS Online
- WIDA ACCESS for Kindergarten
- WIDA Alternate ACCESS
IEP teams should follow their state's specific alternate assessment participation criteria.
For additional guidance
- Refer to the WIDA Alternate ACCESS Participation Criteria Decision Tree.
- Watch the ACCESS or Alternate ACCESS? WIDA webinar recording.
- Find helpful information and resources on the Accessibility and Accommodations page.
Scores
Alternate ACCESS tests students' language in the four domains: Listening, Reading, Speaking, Writing. Test scores can be used to inform instruction and monitor progress of English learners in a school or district.
- All domains are scored by the test administrator.
- Our test delivery partner processes scored tests for reporting.
WIDA provides sample score reports, guides for understanding them, rubrics to connect results with instructional and IEP plans, as well as other resources to engage with families about what it all means. Every year, individual states set their own testing and score reporting timelines. Visit your member/state page to learn when students will test and when you can expect score reports.
Types of Scores and How To Use Them
Types of Scores
Scale Scores take item difficulty into account so they can be used to examine groups of students, or student performances, over time. Scale scores on Alternate ACCESS range from 900-980.
Proficiency Level Scores provide an interpretation of scale scores. Alternate ACCESS proficiency level scores are whole numbers. Proficiency levels on Alternate ACCESS range from 1-5, and are unique from other ACCESS assessments. A student who scores a Proficiency Level 1 on Alternate ACCESS is not necessarily at the entering level on the WIDA ACCESS Online and Paper assessments.
Types of Score Reports
All Alternate ACCESS score reports provide score information for the same eight categories: four domains and four composite areas (Oral Language, Literacy, Comprehension, Overall). Composite scores are created from two or more domain scores.
- Individual Student Report (ISR)
The ISRs show scores for an individual student. There are two Alternate ACCESS ISRs: One is for educators, and one is for families.
The ISR for families
- Is available in many languages
- Contains the critical information families need to know
- Can be sent home with students and/or discussed at conferences with parents/guardians
- Can assist when talking with families and students about scores
The ISR for educators
- Should be used when your focus is on one student at a time
- Can assist with collaborative decision making about instructional supports and reclassification
Sample Alternate ACCESS ISR for Families
Sample Alternate ACCESS ISR for Educators- Student Roster Report (SRR)
The SRR contains information about a group of students within a single school and grade. It does not have visual supports or descriptors of each level but provides a concise and holistic way to view the results for a group of students.
- Look for patterns in student performance
- Class placement
- Forming work groups in a class
- Identifying students who would benefit from different or additional support
- Frequency Reports
WIDA provides three frequency reports: school, district and state. They show the number and percentage of tested students (per grade) who scored at each proficiency level. Frequency reports do not show the performance of individual students, so they are best for providing a global overview of a larger group’s performance. Because the number of students taking Alternate ACCESS tends to be relatively small, take care when interpreting frequency reports.
- Use to gain a sense of the school, district, or state-wide effort towards educating English learners.
- Use when planning, developing, or restructuring language services for English learners.
- Be careful when generalizing about the meaning behind differing scores, especially with a small number of students.
Sample Alternate ACCESS School Frequency Report
Sample Alternate ACCESS District Frequency Report
Sample Alternate ACCESS State Frequency Report
Understanding Alternate ACCESS Scores
The WIDA Alternate ACCESS Interpretive Guide for Score Reports is a comprehensive document explaining the types of scores reported by Alternate ACCESS for students in grades K-12.
Interpretive Guide for Score Reports
Using Alternate ACCESS Scores
Alternate ACCESS scores have many potential uses, from determining the placement of individual students to guiding instruction. Test scores should be just one element in the decision-making process to:
- Monitor student progress annually (using scores from two or more years) – scores from the first year taking Alternate ACCESS can establish a baseline to track future growth
- Guide IEP teams in determining English language acquisition supports
- Inform classroom instruction and assessment
- Aid in programmatic decision making
Score Report Resources
Rely on the Alternate Proficiency Level Descriptors for explanations of how students use their English language at each proficiency level. Scroll to the end of the document for a section that defines terms and gives examples of student responses.
A redesigned Alternate ACCESS was released in the 2023-2024 school year with new content, score levels and ISRs. Watch the recording of the Understanding 2023-24 WIDA Alternate ACCESS Score Reports webinar (WIDA Secure Portal account required).
Resources to Share With Families
All family handouts are translated into the 16 most popular languages in the WIDA Consortium.
Before Alternate ACCESS Testing
Help families of students learn what to expect with Alternate ACCESS by sharing the What Is WIDA Alternate ACCESS? handout.
After Alternate ACCESS Testing
Help families of students make sense of the Alternate ACCESS Individual Student Reports by sharing the WIDA Alternate ACCESS: Understanding Your Child's Scores handout, along with the appropriate ISR.
Find other family handouts on the Resources page. Find other supports and tools on the Family Engagement page.
Related Resources
Browse Advancing ALTELLA research briefs, toolkits and more! Advancing ALTELLA is the current grant project to study how to assess English learners and students with the most significant cognitive disabilities.
Browse ALTELLA research briefs, studies, findings and more! ALTELLA was the initial grant project to study how to assess English learners and students with the most significant cognitive disabilities.