July 2004 — SETDA
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Virginia: Getting Ready for Online Testing
Can't you just hear the call coming? "Let's take our statewide high-stakes pencil-and-paper testing system and use technology to automate it. This will provide ready access to tests, greater testing flexibility, faster turnaround of test results, and test data decision-making capability. Plus, the kids will love it!"
If your call indeed comes - and it appears more and more likely that it will come in light of the increased testing requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act - you may spend some sleepless nights if you are the technology person managing the project. Embarking on a high-stakes online testing program is a major enterprise that requires planning, teamwork, communication, flexibility and good problem-solving skills. It is important to be aware of the issues you may confront and what hurdles might have to be overcome to be successful in your job.
Establishing a Project Management Team
The Virginia Department of Education established a project management team (PMT) to develop and guide what we called the Web-based Standards of Learning Technology Initiative. We included technology, assessment, instruction, accountability, finance and our vendor partner on the team. Since testing impacts all departments within our educational agency, we wanted everyone to know what was going on and have the ability to provide input to the PMT.
Several work committees were formed to identify issues of concern and suggest solutions. A formal project management plan with project phases, goals, milestones and deliverables was followed throughout the project. Representatives from the PMT met bimonthly with Superintendent of Public Instruction Jo Lynne DeMary. Her support and help with making decisions on critical issues have kept the project focused and given it high visibility both in the department and with school divisions. Most schools followed our model and formed broad-based teams to solve local online testing issues, which proved very effective. While 16 districts began testing in the fall of 2001, 120 out of 132 districts were tested this spring. More than 100,000 tests have been administered so far, and it is anticipated that the number will reach 400,000 by next year.
Technological Goals
Online testing is not really a technology project, but it certainly needs to start out as one. Our technological goals were to establish student access to computers at a ratio of one computer for every five students; create Internet-ready LAN capability in every school; and assure adequate high-speed, high-bandwidth capability. If your state is anything like Virginia, schools have a variety of infrastructures, computer configurations and varying degrees of connectivity. This makes it necessary to have a fairly high degree of technological conformity to conduct online testing. We recommend developing architectural guidelines that set minimum technological specifications to get everybody moving together in the right direction.
Our PMT also established a three-stage certification process. Schools certified that the architectural guidelines had been met in stage one, verified the certification for stage two, and verified that everything was working properly just prior to testing for the final stage. Certification helps mitigate the risk of technological failure during testing.
