905 schools set to try computer-based testing |
On Board Online • May 23, 2016
By Cathy Woodruff
Senior Writer
For the first time, school districts that are field-testing material for New York's future grade 3-8 exams have the option to administer the tests by computer, and more than a third of participating schools are doing so, according to the State Education Department.
In total, students in 905 schools around the state will use computers to take this year's field tests, said Peter Swerdzewski, assistant commissioner in SED's Office of State Assessment, Standards and Curriculum.
"The choice for field testing by computer or on paper was at the district level," Swerdzewski told the state Board of Regents at the board's May meeting.
Among schools that opted to do field tests by computer, more than half - 60 percent - are located in rural areas. Rural counties with notably higher participation rates include St. Lawrence (16 schools) and Chautauqua (21 schools). Only about 20 percent of participating schools are from non-public, New York City and "urban/suburban" districts, Swerdzewski said.
A three-week window for districts to conduct the computer-based field tests starts on May 23 and concludes on June 10. The extended window is intended to give schools more flexibility to conduct the tests on their own schedules and deal with any problems that crop up, Swerdzewski said.
In fact, gaining experience in overcoming technical problems is one of the goals of this field testing cycle, he said.
"Things will go wrong. That's just the nature of the beast," Swerdzewski said.
In the Central Valley district, which encompasses the Mohawk Valley communities of Ilion and Mohawk, students in some grades already use Chromebook computers every day, said English language arts teacher Shannon Rowley. As a result, she said, field testing "probably isn't going to be too scary or out-of-the-ordinary for our 8th graders."
A relatively small portion of students in each participating school will take the field tests, which are being carried out in collaboration with the state's new test vendor, Minnesota-based Questar Assessment. The exams will be offered to students in only one grade in each school and in only one content area, math or English language arts.
The field tests are expected to take about 40 minutes to complete. Swerdzewski said the computer-based option should enable test designers to learn more about how much time students need.
"We can get a much more precise idea of how long it takes students to complete, not only the full test, but individual items," Swerdzewski said. "This is very powerful information for us as we build the tests of the future."
For those seeking a preview of the kinds of questions students will see and a sense of how the testing platform operates, SED and Questar have posted a question "sampler" on the education technology portion of the department's website. The sampler's practice questions are drawn from previously released New York state test questions.
A link to the sampler is posted with other resources at http://www.nysed.gov/edtech/cbt . According to Questar, the sampler works best with a Chrome browser because that most closely resembles the secure browser used by the company to administer the real test.