September 2004 — Industry Perspective
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‘Smart’ Technology Offers Schools New Solutions to Save Time and Money in the Changing Landscape of Education
· Classroom Assessment. Delivering course content to students and monitoring their competency and comprehension of the material on a regular basis increases teaching effectiveness and student performance. Traditional testing methods require hours of grading time, which slows down the return of results and makes frequent testing impractical. Lack of frequent, real-time assessment data can put low-performing students in jeopardy; the extent of the problem might not surface until it’s too late.
· “Practice” Schoolwide Assessment. Most states have statewide proficiency tests for all core subjects, which are administered annually to specific grade levels, to assess and report on student proficiency in those subjects. The results are reported to the federal government and used to determine if the schools and districts are demonstrating adequate yearly progress among students.
To prepare for these examinations, practice tests are often administered one or more times before the official test. This helps to determine how well students will perform and identify areas where additional help is needed to bring each student up to an acceptable proficiency level. These tests are expensive because preprinted forms must be ordered from an outside testing service.
Once tests are completed, they must be scanned and tabulated. This can be done within the school or district by a specialized scanning device, which typically requires a dedicated person to manage the process. The scanning device is usually expensive and can only be used for scanning and grading tests. Alternatively, tests may be sent out for processing, but turnaround times may range from several days to a month or more. In either case, the cost and time involved in the process reduce its effectiveness.
RISO’s recently developed Automated Testing application is an example of how technology can be used to provide significant cost savings for either of these methodologies. In the Classroom Assessment model, teachers using the bubble-sheet testing method can administer class-by-class tests on a regular basis. Bubble sheets can be printed for less than half a cent per page, handed out to students, and then scanned back into an MFP for automatic grading and analytical reporting. Test results, along with a variety of analysis reports, are ready within minutes. The teacher can then review results with his or her class the next day while the material is still fresh in everyone’s minds. And low-performing students can get immediate help to improve their comprehension. Teachers also can use the reports to evaluate their curriculum and method of teaching. If the report shows that a large number of students got a particular answer wrong, they can reteach that portion or explain it differently.
Automated testing is also ideal for the “Practice” Schoolwide Assessment model. With so much riding on the outcome of the annual assessment results, schools need to do everything they can to ensure that as many students as possible achieve proficient ratings. A cycle of content delivery followed by assessment of student comprehension and remedial content review delivers the best chance for students to achieve satisfactory results on the annual assessment tests.
