District Student Export

Last Updated on May 7, 2026

This section describes the processes of exporting student information from and importing student information to WIDA AMS. The information applies to both ACCESS for ELLs and WIDA Screener Online.

To export students at the district level, you must use the Student Export/Transfers/Validation application. This application is different than the Export Students function in Student Management, which is limited to the export of students at the school level. To find out more about exporting students at a school level, please see Exporting Student Records.

Overview

The functionality to export and import student information allows a user to export all student records for a district, edit the records using Microsoft Excel (or a similar program), and import the edited records. The Export Students feature in Student Management will produce files containing up to 8,000 records. This separate Student Export application is preferred for any district wishing to export more than 8,000 records.

  • This process creates a CSV file. The file format and layout match the file format and layout that is used for the Student Import process.
  • Users can begin exporting student records as soon as they are available in WIDA AMS (after the Student Import (Pre-ID) file is loaded).
  • Importing students is performed by using the Start New Import function (under Import Management) Imports can be performed year-round for Screener, but are only available for ACCESS during a state’s Test Setup window. You can view your state’s windows and dates on your state’s WIDA web page.
    • Note: The Student Import function is not available during data validation.

Permissions Information

Access to the Student Export function is controlled by the Student Export permission, which is included in the permission set for district users. Since this export is at a district level rather than school level, there is no reason to assign this permission to school-level users. The Student Import function (used to import students) is controlled by the Import Management permission.

Student Export Process

This topic describes the process of exporting student records from WIDA AMS using the Student Export application.

  1. To access the Student Export application, from the My Applications menu select Student Export/Transfers/Validation, then select the Student Exports tab.
  2. Select a state from the Select a State drop-down menu.
  3. Click Select a Site to search for the site you want to export (you must have access to the site).
  4. Type an entry to search by district name or code. This filters to district-level sites. Type in any part of the district (site) name or code.
  5. After you have selected a site, select an administration (registration window). The administration options from which you can select are displayed in the Select an Admin dialog box.
  6. Click Select in the Select column of a district name/administration to select the site to export. When you click the district name/administration, the site appears in the Selected Sites field.
  7. You can enter more names or codes to select additional sites or administrations. After you enter three characters or numbers, a list of matching sites with the corresponding administration appears. 
    You can process a maximum of five export requests at a time. A warning message appears when you have selected the maximum number of exports.
  8. If you select the wrong site or administration, you can delete a selection by clicking the Trash icon to the right.
  9. After you have made and checked your selections, click Export.
  10. The Export Results grid that appears lists all of the exports selected by the user that have not expired. While an export file is being created, the status Processing… appears in the Download Link column, indicating that file creation is in process.
    • Note: Large files take a while to process, but you can navigate away from the page while the process runs and return later to access the download link(s).
  11. Once a file is available for download, a link to download the file appears in the Download Link column. The file is created in .csv format, the required format for the Student Import process. The Export Students layout matches the layout requirements for Import Management.
    • Note: Files are available for download up to 24 hours after the initial request. After 24 hours, the files expire and are removed from the Export Results list, the download is no longer available in the grid, and you must request another site export to restart the process. To keep files permanently, save them on your network or local drive.

For information on updating student records, see Updating Multiple Student Records.