Common Assessments Are a Test for School’s Technology

published April 27th, 2011 in Ed Week

As the state of Oregon moves toward a common assessment in all subject areas, a critical component involved in districts being able to administer the tests, will be technology. Currently, the OAKS test is taken by students online, and in the small district where I currently work, there are HUGE technology issues. When OAKS testing is taking place, everyone who is not on the internet for a critical reason is prohibited from using it. Streaming is banned all throughout the district all the time, because it causes students who are taking online classes to be bumped out of their program. As the number of tests delivered online increases, the more inconveniences it causes for all the other computer users in my district. The article noted many of the same problems in other school districts, citing capacity issues as a reason teachers may not be able to teach using internet based tools during testing season.  I was somewhat surprised to read that Virginia is moving to an online based writing assessment next year. It does make sense that moving the assessment to an online format would make it easier for grading and reporting purposes, however I agree with the concerns presented including the notion that a young student’s keyboarding skills could affect the outcome of their score. I think the critical message to be received from this article is that although it seems ideal to deliver all tests through an online system, the state will have to make plans and have funds available to deal with all the little details and potential problems that will arise in regard to technology. To simply proceed without taking into consideration capacity issues is a recipe for disaster!