According to the Massachusetts Department of Education, Federal and state laws mandate that English learner (EL) students be evaluated annually to assess their proficiency in reading, writing, listening, and speaking English and their progress in learning the language. To comply with these laws, EL students are required to participate in the ACCESS for ELLs test, which is administered every January-February.

The district utilizes data from the ACCESS test to determine the level of support needed for EL services.

In Massachusetts, all students whose first language is not English take the ACCESS test annually to measure their English language proficiency and grade-level academic growth. For more information, please refer to the 'What is ACCESS for ELLs?' guide by clicking one of the links below.