In October 2025, the NY State Education Department announced that New York is joining the WIDA Consortium, a move that will bring some important changes to how multilingual learners are assessed across the state.

One of the biggest shifts will be moving from the paper NYSESLAT assessment to WIDA’s computer-based ACCESS and Alternate ACCESS assessments. Students will also encounter different task types on WIDA ACCESS and be scored on WIDA’s proficiency-based model, which focuses on how students use language in different content areas and situations.

This may sound like a lot, and getting ready to implement WIDA ACCESS will definitely be an adjustment, but there’s good news. For one thing, the transition from NYSESLAT to ACCESS will happen at a measured pace. Also, what you’re already doing in your classroom will continue to be relevant and valuable as you prepare your students for the ACCESS assessment.

After all, teaching in New York is a constant exercise in balance and flexibility, especially when it comes to serving multilingual learners. You’re juggling grade-level content demands, state standards, and assessment expectations while also supporting students across a wide range of language proficiency levels and home languages. At the same time, you’re building background knowledge, scaffolding instruction, differentiating for students with varying needs, integrating language and content, and creating opportunities for students to speak, read, write, and listen in meaningful ways. 

That said, transitioning to a new assessment still requires planning and preparation. Hopefully, this post will give you some useful information about WIDA in NY, so you can keep supporting your multilingual learners with confidence.

What Is WIDA, and When Is It Coming to NY?

The WIDA Consortium unites 42 US states and territories in the assessment and teaching of K-12 multilingual learners. To that end, WIDA provides its members with detailed standards, a comprehensive framework, and a suite of assessments, as well as resources and training for educators. 

WIDA ACCESS is the name for WIDA’s suite of language assessments, designed to measure students’ progress in academic English. There’s a WIDA ACCESS test for Kindergarten students (paper), students in grades 1-12 (online), and K-12 students with disabilities (paper). The WIDA Screener is an assessment that helps determine if incoming students need language support services (like the NYSITELL).

However, New York will not be adopting the WIDA ELD Standards Framework in the 2026-27 school year. Instead, the New York State Academic and Linguistic Demands (ALDs) will continue to inform instructional planning and alignment with New York’s content standards. 

While you can get a preview of the rollout schedule on WIDA’s New York homepage, we’re happy to share some information about what the shift to WIDA in New York state may look like.

The plan in New York is:

• Spring 2026: Final administration of the NYSESLAT assessment
• Fall 2026: Give teachers access to WIDA’s training materials in September 
• Spring 2027: Administer the WIDA ACCESS and WIDA Alternate ACCESS (for multilingual learners with disabilities) assessments for the first time
• 2027-2028: Implement the WIDA Screener, replacing NYSITELL
• 2027-2028: Continue administration of WIDA ACCESS and Alternate ACCESS for multilingual learners

NYSESLAT vs. WIDA ACCESS

Although ACCESS is grounded in the WIDA ELD Standards Framework, it won’t be entirely new territory. Like the NYSESLAT, it assesses students in reading, writing, listening, and speaking. You can also explore practice questions and sample items on WIDA’s website to see what students will experience.

Still, the NYSESLAT has been New York’s K-12 assessment for multilingual learners for over 20 years, and the routines schools have built around it will need to shift. Teachers and students in New York have come to expect the paper-and-pencil NYSESLAT. There might even be some nostalgia for the familiar, like pulling students out one-by-one to sit in a quiet room or corner of the hallway for the Speaking portion, or setting up for the shared Listening section of the assessment. 

Beyond nostalgia, knowing the format of the NYSESLAT has informed ENL instruction in New York. Teachers have been able to count on the types of reading and listening passages, and the question types students will encounter. That’s allowed for teaching test-taking strategies, designing graphic organizers, and building routines across grade teams, all with the confidence that these moves are preparing students for what’s ahead of them.

WIDA ACCESS will demand shifts from administrators, teachers, and students, and it’s only with experience that you’ll learn what works best to help students prepare for this new assessment. Some key differences between NYSESLAT and WIDA ACCESS are:

Technology

Instead of paper booklets and a one-on-one Speaking test, WIDA ACCESS will require most students to navigate WIDA’s testing platform and use headsets to record their responses to Speaking questions, as well as listen to directions and passages. While students are likely to be very comfortable with their phones and a variety of apps, the online test platform does not mirror a familiar interface. Students will need practice to navigate the platform and understand the tools available to them.

Research on shifts from paper-based to computer-based testing shows that student scores often dip at first, not because students know less, but because they are adjusting to a new format. In fact, in 2019, the Harvard Graduate School of Education found that students initially perform worse on computer-based tests, with differences shrinking once they become more familiar with the tools and structure.

Adaptive Testing

Unlike the NYSESLAT, where students all answer the same questions, the questions a student sees on WIDA ACCESS can change based on how they respond. As students move through the test, correct responses may lead to more complex items, while incorrect responses may lead to more accessible ones. 

For students, this can make the testing experience feel less predictable than NYSESLAT. The level of difficulty may shift as they progress. They may also notice that they cannot easily compare pace with one another, since each student’s test path is slightly different.

Tiers A and B/C

The ACCESS assessment is tiered by proficiency level. Students at the Entering and Emerging levels may encounter tasks at the Tier A version of the assessment, while students at Developing and above might see mostly Tier B/C tasks. 

Tier A tasks feature simpler sentence structure, less sophisticated vocabulary, and more scaffolded questions. Students are likely to be asked to name details from an image, or answer a prompt by responding to two separate questions. Tier B/C tasks include more complex language and more detailed prompts with less scaffolding. Students will be expected to take in more information and hold onto details before receiving a prompt.

How to Prepare Students for WIDA ACCESS

It might be tempting to dive into every available resource and try to learn as much about WIDA as possible, but take a moment to get clear on what matters: helping students get ready for a different assessment. In the end, intentional adjustments will help students feel prepared and confident. 

Here are some important steps to take before implementing WIDA ACCESS in Spring 2027:

• Keep doing what you’ve been doing. Differences aside, both NYSESLAT and WIDA ACCESS measure students’ language proficiency through the same four language domains: reading, listening, speaking, and writing. All you’ve been doing to support students in the four domains is still valuable. 
  • Also, remember that the core expectations for teaching and learning in New York classrooms are not being replaced. The New York ALDs emphasize a key concept that’s shared by WIDA’s ELD Framework: “Every teacher, regardless of content area or subject matter, has the responsibility to design and deliver culturally and linguistically appropriate instruction, integrate language and content learning, and collaborate to support multilingual learners” (Academic and Linguistic Demands, p. 6). 
• Help students get comfortable. The testing platform and hardware will each present challenges for students, so provide regular opportunities to practice navigating the platform and using headphones and microphones. WIDA’s test demo and test practice give students a walkthrough of the platform and a chance to try sample questions in the online environment. 
  Small, repeatable routines — like listening to recorded directions or passages, recording spoken responses with a microphone, or clicking through multi-step directions on a screen — can help build familiarity.
• Adapt test-taking strategies to work with a new format. The online testing platform allows students to highlight some portions of the text on the screen, use line guides to follow reading, and take notes (in the Writing portion). WIDA’s Accessibility & Accommodation Manual states that students can also have a blank page to use as scratch paper, though some states have made rules against this. Consider how reading and note-taking strategies can be adapted for students to be able to use them in the online platform, such as highlighting verbs in directions or creating simple graphic organizers on scratch paper. 
• Build a routine that works across content areas. ACCESS mostly asks students to use language in school-related scenarios or in content related to Social Studies and Science. Prompts are usually paired with images that either introduce the topic or serve as the basis for questions. Creating a consistent structure for practice where students regularly respond to image-based prompts can help them get more comfortable with this format and focus on using language to explain their thinking.

From Transition to Opportunity

The shift to WIDA does not require New York teachers to start from scratch. Instead, it offers a shared language for talking about what many teachers are already doing, and a clearer way to support multilingual learners in every classroom.