Digital Directions - Fall 2012 - (Page 16)

just how much and how those payments will be structured is still being worked out. ED TINU CON 15 PAGE ROM F ‘Two Viable Solutions’ Experts seem to agree that computeradaptive testing works well with multiple-choice questions, or one-word-response questions, but there are differing opinions about how it does with longer answers or with essays. That makes computer-adaptive testing more suited to some subjects than others. Oregon, for example, uses a writing assessment that is not adaptive that takes students three hours to complete. “Things that are essays or that contain more complicated projects that need to be evaluated through human judgment really can’t be administered [through computer-adaptive testing] in this situation,” says John Mazzeo, the vice president of research and development for ETS, based in Princeton, N.J. Despite those limitations, Alpert says the English/language arts and literacy component of the Smarter Balanced assessments will be adaptive. The only exceptions will be a handful of performance tasks, which may be longer activities that take place in the classroom or offline. As states and schools get ready to address the challenges of adaptive testing, training students, educators, and even parents becomes increasingly important, says Steve Slater, the lead psychometrician for the Oregon education department. Melissa Fincher, the associate superintendent for assessment and accountability in Georgia, a state that has joined the PARCC coalition, says she appreciates the fact that the federal government has financed the work of both coalitions. “The jury is still out, and I see this as an opportunity to look large-scale at the best way to assess students,” she says. “I don’t see this as an either-or situation. I’m pleased we have two viable solutions in the works.” n Coverage of the implementation of the Common Core State Standards and the common assessments is supported in part by a grant from the GE Foundation, at www.ge.com/foundation. available almost immediately or within days, while results from sections that contain more writing and constructed response may take several weeks. But in the field, implementation of computeradaptive tests can pose problems. Much like the PARCC tests, the Smarter Balanced tests will be given online, and that means schools will have to have enough devices and bandwidth. (See related story, Page 18.) Delaware had to allocate funds to buy additional servers for districts and the state distributed 10,000 netbooks to get schools ready; the state also had to redesign training for teachers who were going to be test administrators. Districts are raising concern about lengthy testing windows tapping out their bandwidth for long periods of time and having enough devices with the right specifications to run the test. Computer-adaptive tests can also be costly to develop since so many test items are needed. “The early years of computer-adaptive testing are extremely expensive,” Stetter says. However, since his state’s development of initial computer-adaptive tests, costs have dropped, he says, as test banks can be used for a long time. Smarter Balanced estimates that once its adaptive tests are fully developed, its test bank will contain at least 30,000 items across all grades. “Once you have an adaptive-testing pool, you can continue to run it for a long period of time, so there are a lot of efficiencies gained,” says Walter “Denny” Way, the senior vice president of psychometric and research services for the education publisher Pearson, based in London. Smarter Balanced received $160 million and PARCC received $170 million in federal grants to develop the common assessments. Once the tests are ready, states will be expected to pay for them, but and I see this as an opportunity to look largescale at the best way to assess students. jury is still out, The “ ” Associate Superinte ndent for Assessment and Accountability_Geor gia —Melissa Fincher MOTION GRAPHIC: For a better understanding of how adaptive testing works and the characteristics that differentiate these tests from traditional exams, go to www.digitaldirections.org/go/adaptivetesting. 16 >> www.digitaldirections.org  http://www.ge.com/foundation http://www.digitaldirections.org/go/adaptivetesting http://www.digitaldirections.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Digital Directions - Fall 2012

Digital Directions - Fall 2012
Contents
Editor's Note
DD Site Visit
Bits & Bytes
Shifting to Adaptive Testing
Tailoring the Tests To Special Needs?
Choosing the Right Device
Bandwidth Demand Rising
Are You Ready?
Where’s the Money?
High-Priority Virtual PD
Online PD Destinations
Virtual Ed. Dives In to the Common Core
Open Education Resources Surge
Security

Digital Directions - Fall 2012

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