January 2003 — Features
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Getting On Board With Online Testing
Computerized Testing
The commission’s initial consensus — that testing should function to measure individual student growth and provide timely results — led the members to recommend a technology solution. We had always hoped that somewhere down the line we would be able to use computerized testing in our district, because when you have the hardware capability it creates tremendous benefits for testing programs. Through its research, the commission found that the system Rigby, Blaine, Meridian and other districts had already been using met all the identified needs. The system, Measures of Academic Progress (MAP), was developed by the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA), a nonprofit assessment organization based in Portland, Ore., with a 25-year history successfully working with school districts nationwide.
Technology solutions that provide student assessment range from online coursework to stand-alone and network solutions. These solutions are used to test individuals and entire classes. Students can also take tests online via Internet-delivered systems, or through network-connected computers utilizing Internet-enabled tests, which provide all data and scoring through the link to the testing organization. Internet-delivered tests require continuous access from each student’s computer to the testing organization through the testing period. This makes quality Internet connections essential in order to maintain proper test speeds and graphical displays. It also requires that the stu-dents’ computers be updated regularly with the latest browser software.
Internet-enabled tests like MAP take away this requirement. With this alternative, the only computer that makes the connection to the testing organization to download and upload tests and results is the network administrator’s computer. Internet-enabled testing not only eliminates the shortcomings of standardized models, but also provides an effective way to gauge student progress, measure growth and monitor improvement consistently. For us, this option was a better choice than Internet-delivered testing, because it didn’t require updating every student’s computer.
A New Kind of Test
Measures of Academic Progress are electronically administered and scored achievement tests designed to measure growth for individual students, classrooms, schools and districts. While it is new to many Idaho districts that began using it last year, the MAP system has been used in Rigby, Blaine and other districts for two scholastic years. Blaine uses the system in all seven of its schools, including three elementary schools, a middle school, a high school, a K-12 school and an alternative school. Rigby uses it in all of its schools as well. Testing takes place in grades 2-10 in Blaine and in grades 3-8 in Rigby. Both districts were eager to adopt the technology prior to its selection as a state test.
The MAP system is unlike other tests in education because, while it includes the features and benefits of norm-referenced, criterion-referenced and compu-terized tests, it also offers more benefits and higher quality growth data. These are vital in classrooms faced with helping students meet rigorous standards and the challenges of the NCLB Act. The system is different from other tests in four primary areas:
