Education Week - October 2, 2013 - S22

Technology Readiness
For Online Testing
District upgrades put in place
to protect integrity of process
H
By Robin L.
Flanigan
oping to avoid the widespread technical
failures that caused online testing
breakdowns in a number of states last
spring, education officials are communicating
regularly with testing providers
and planning dress rehearsals
far ahead of the next rounds of online
tests in 2013-14.
“Districts need to have a punch list
and make sure they have everything
they need to be ready,” said Keith R. Krueger, the CEO of the
Washington-based Consortium for School Networking, or
CoSN, a professional association for school district technology
leaders. “But they also have to understand that highstakes
testing is a complicated environment. They’re not
going to be able to control everything.”
Though more breakdowns likely are inevitable
given online testing’s relatively new place in
schools, the ability to protect the validity, integrity,
and security of the process is increasingly
crucial as districts in 46 states—those that
have adopted the Common Core State Standards—gear
up for mandatory online assessments
starting in 2014-15.
In the meantime, states that dealt with disruptions
in online testing are going through
checklists: Do districts have enough bandwidth?
A strong infrastructure? Are testing providers doing all
they can to prevent a repeat performance?
Ken Draut, an associate commissioner of education in the
Kentucky Department of Education’s office of assessment
and accountability, said his state put Iowa City, Iowa-based
ACT Inc. “on notice” after problems with online end-of-course
exams were reported in about 25 of its 174 districts.
“They have to show us their system works,” he said, “or
we’ll abandon the online model this year.”
A stress test scheduled for mid-November will put 20,000
students statewide on the testing provider’s system at one
time, Mr. Draut said, adding that he’s “confident that at a
state level, our infrastructure has enough bandwidth and
access to support online testing for all kids.” The students
will take a full battery of sample tests. Given the state’s
estimate that it will have roughly 15,000 students taking
official tests on any given day next spring, a successful outcome
would provide assurances, although ACT isn’t off the
hook. Mr. Draut said the state will continue to have weekly
meetings with the company through next May.
In Oklahoma, about 3,000 of the 300,000 students taking
the exams last spring experienced problems like being
logged out of tests and unable to restart.
Eric S. Hileman, the executive director of information technology
for the 40,000-student Oklahoma City schools, said
department heads are examining “granular-level data”—in
addition to the technology-readiness tools developed by testing
providers CTB/McGraw-Hill and Pearson—to help determine
the root cause of the breakdowns in his district.
Meanwhile, despite the movement toward wireless education
in recent years, testing providers “are saying they need
us wired for better performance,” said Mr. Hileman. “From
a cost perspective, we weren’t prepared for that.”
In the midst of building gyms for the district’s 46 elementary
schools, work that began after a bond measure passed
in 2007, the district now is wiring them during construction
to support mass testing.
At the same time, Oklahoma City is using testing provider
Edusoft for benchmark testing this fall to see whether similar
issues pop up. There have been sporadic problems so far,
but nothing officials believe would signal a significant setback.
Whatever testing provider the district winds up using,
there will be a dress rehearsal next spring.
“There are a lot of places where things can break down
in a district this size,” Mr. Hileman said, including slow response
times and updates. “Right now, our focus is on providing
the most reliable connection to the outside world for
those testing companies, and once that is finished, the rest
will fall into place. I have rather rose-colored glasses, but
that’s my hope.”
Bandwidth is a critical concern for many districts. In a fall
2013 national survey of school district leaders conducted
by CoSN and Market Data Retrieval, or MDR, an education
market-research firm based in Shelton, Conn., 99 percent of
respondents indicated a need for more Internet bandwidth
and connectivity in the next 36 months.
PAPER-AND-PENCIL OPTION
The 90,000-student Albuquerque school system in New
Mexico fixed online testing troubles several years ago with
fiber network upgrades and new network-management tools.
The district will continue encouraging staff members not to
stream videos, listen to online music, or use other high-bandwidth
applications during testing windows, said Tom Ryan,
the chief executive officer of the eLearn Institute, a nonprofit
company based in Wyomissing, Pa., that aims to transform
learning through digital education. He is the district’s former
chief information officer and a CoSN board member.
A positive performance on Kentucky’s November stress
test might not be enough to alleviate concerns about online
breakdowns for Robert Rodosky and Erica Thompson, the
co-assessment coordinators for the state’s largest district,
the 101,500-student Jefferson County school system, which
includes the city of Louisville.
With six testing windows throughout the year, they had
doubts about online reliability when in April 2013 some
computer screens froze during the fifth testing window. Despite
the fact that only a small number of students were
affected, and those students were able to finish the tests at
a later time, the coordinators decided to go with paper-andpencil
tests for the final and largest testing window. They
made that decision despite assurances from the state that
all problems were solved.
From what they’ve witnessed since in other states, that
solution may be the method of choice for a while.
“As of right now, in my eyes, we’re doing paper-and-pencil
tests all year,” said Ms. Thompson. “We’ll see what happens
with the stress test, and if all goes well, we will have a conversation.
But this is high-stakes testing. We just can’t afford
to take any risks.”
For the greatest success rate with online testing, districts
need to plan ahead.
Said CoSN ’s Mr. Krueger: “This is a puzzle, and we have to
make sure everyone understands what they’re responsible
for in putting the puzzle together.” n
S22
EDUCATION WEEK | October 2, 2013
Managing the Digital District >>www.edweek.org/go/digitaldistrict-report
STEPS FOR BETTER
ASSESSMENT
l Communicate with the
testing provider.
Have regular conversations
about potential problems and
how to avoid them. Be clear about
contractual obligations on such
matters as technical support and
troubleshooting on testing days.
l Know your district’s bandwidth.
Upgrade the network if
necessary, taking into account
that use of multiple devices—
including wireless ones—puts a
significant strain on traditional
infrastructures.
l Plan a dress rehearsal.
Test the testing process by giving a
full battery of sample assessments
to more students at one time than
are expected on official test days.
l Don’t expect perfection.
Online testing is still evolving, so
growing pains will continue. Do the
best you can to be prepared, and
learn from your mistakes.
SOURCE: Education W
eek
http://www.edweek.org http://www.edweek.org http://www.edweek.org/go/digitaldistrict-report
Education Week - October 2, 2013

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