May 2004 — Features
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Computerized Adaptive Testing: Effective Measurement for All Students
Adaptive Testing: What D'es NCLB Allow?
By Allan Olson, Executive Director, NWEA
The Northwest Evaluation Association began using computers for assessment in the early 1980s. Since then - and especially since 1998 when we developed the current version of our computerized adaptive test (now used in school districts nationwide) and more recently as we developed Idaho's state assessment system - we have been closely monitoring the U.S. Department of Education's position on computerized adaptive testing to meet federal assessment guidelines.
The current No Child Left Behind Act and the regulations that accompany it were designed to measure grade-level progress to determine whether all students in one grade have improved compared to students in the same grade from the previous year. As such, the extensive assessment requirements of the legislation mandate that all students be held to the same grade-level standards, which has sometimes been misinterpreted as precluding computerized adaptive testing.
However, according to Zollie Stevenson Jr., group leader for standards, assessments and accountability at the Department of Education, computerized adaptive testing is acceptable as long as the tests include "a core of items that are aligned with both the content and the achievement standards for the grade in which the students are enrolled." Idaho's model is a blended approach that includes the core items mandated by the regulations, as well as an adaptive element that provides additional information that may be used by teachers and schools with little extra expense of student and teacher time. The blended approach meets both the letter of the law (i.e., to provide the kind of data required) and the spirit of the law (i.e., using test data in efforts to help all students grow).
If we are to "build the mind and character of every child, from every background, in every part of America," as President George W. Bush envisioned when he signed the law, we need to know as much as possible about each student, and we need to concentrate on helping each student grow to the standards and beyond.
"What Idaho is attempting to do in the blended model seems to be working," says Celia Sims, assistant in the Education Department's Office of Elementary and Secondary Education. "Idaho has a long history of using the adaptive testing for other purposes in the classroom, which we all agree are important. The blended model allows them to meet their teacher and school needs and the NCLB needs simultaneously in one instrument that's not extremely long."
Now, more than two years since the NCLB mandates went into effect, Idaho is working under a compliance agreement with the Education Department. While the state expects to meet all NCLB requirements on time, its assessment system has not yet undergone the rigorous peer-review process that leads to final approval.
As the article, "Computerized Adaptive Testing: Effective Measurement for All Students," on the Meridian School District shows, Idaho is not waiting for the government's final say to maximize the value of the tests. Since 2002 (and well before this for many Idaho districts), the data has been informing instruction statewide. "Idaho found a way to make it work," agrees Sims. "Their blended solution meets the needs."
For more information about NWEA, visit www.nwea.org.
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