Alternate ACCESS Scores and Reports

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Resources to help educators understand student scores

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.

Reminder: Much of the content on this page relates to the 2022-23 version of the test. For the 2023-24 testing year, we've launched a redesigned WIDA Alternate ACCESS. Because of standard setting, scores will be delayed until Fall 2024. Learn more on the WIDA Alternate ACCESS Updates page.

Types of Scores and How To Use Them

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 ISR shows all the scores for an individual student. It provides brief descriptions of each proficiency level with a lot of visual support. Translated copies can be sent home with students and/or discussed at conferences with parents/guardians.

  • Use when your focus is on one student at a time
  • Use the ISR to assist when talking to the student, their parents or guardians, and their other educators
  • Use Alternate ACCESS Speaking and Writing Interpretive Rubrics when looking at those scores

Sample Reports

Sample Alternate ACCESS ISR(2022-23 test version)

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

Sample Report

Sample Alternate ACCESS Student Roster Report(2022-23 test version)

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 ELLs
  • Use when planning, developing, or restructuring language services for ELLs
  • Be careful when generalizing about the meaning behind differing scores, especially with a small number of students

Sample Reports

Sample Alternate ACCESS School Frequency Report(2022-23 test version)
Sample Alternate ACCESS District Frequency Report(2022-23 test version)
Sample Alternate ACCESS State Frequency Report(2022-23 test version)

Types of Scores

Raw Scores are the actual number of items or tasks the student responded to correctly. This number is the starting point, but not useful to understand student performance, because it does not take item difficulty into account. On Alternate ACCESS, raw scores are provided for the Listening and Reading domains only.

Scale Scores take item difficulty into account, so they can be used to examine groups of students, or student performances over time.

Proficiency Level Scores provide an interpretation of scale scores. Proficiency levels on Alternate ACCESS range from A1-P3, and are unique from other ACCESS assessments. A student who scores a P1 on the Alternate ACCESS is not necessarily at the entering level on the ACCESS for ELLs Online and Paper assessments.

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 1-12.

Interpretive Guide for Score Reports (2022-23 test version)

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

Use rubrics to understand the scores students earn on WIDA assessments, analyze student performance in the classroom, and plan ways to scaffold language learning.

Speaking and Writing Rubrics

 

Related Publications and Professional Learning

Resources for explaining ACCESS scores and engaging families in ELLs’ learning.
Go from scores to practical recommendations for instructional support with WIDA Standards resources.
WIDA offers professional development to help you make the most of score reports.