Mixing technology an testing: Computer-based assessments lend flexibility, quick turnaround and lower costs, supporters say

School Administrator, April, 2002 by Alexander Russo

It didn't take long for Catherine McCaslin, the evaluation and assessment specialist for the Beaufort County, S.C., public schools, to realize that moving to a computer-based testing program was going to have tremendous benefits.

During an early demonstration of the school district's innovative touch-screen, audio-enabled testing program at a local school nearly six years ago, McCaslin saw firsthand that increased student motivation, among many other benefits, was one immediate result of mixing technology and testing.

"The response of these children and some parents who were viewing the testing to the [computer] test told me then and there that this was the only way to go," McCaslin recalls. "Why not make testing fun? Whoever said that a test had to be boring and quiet and black and white to be a valid classroom assessment tool?"

While still far from widespread, computer-based testing is the choice of a small but enthusiastic band of districts like Beaufort County that are trying to improve cumbersome paper-and-pencil testing programs and integrate computers more completely into classroom curriculum and instruction.

Computer-based testing can provide flexibility, instant feedback, individualized assessment and eventually lower costs than traditional paper examinations. Computerized results create opportunities for teaching and assessment to be integrated more than ever before and allow for retesting students, measuring growth and linking assessment to instruction.

So far, district experiences have been mostly positive, and proponents predict that computerized testing will be widespread within just a few years. Some districts are implementing and designing their own programs focused on individualized diagnosis and improved instruction, while others are piloting state-led efforts to bring state assessments online. Others, such as the Meridian, Idaho, School District (see story, page 24), are contracting with outside testing firms.

Gaining a Foothold

Like many other still-unfolding technology initiatives, computer-based testing takes several forms and falls under several different names, including online assessment, computerized testing, electronic testing and computer adaptive testing.

For several years now, computer testing has been creeping into other aspects of public life. Some states administer drivers' license exams electronically. Some employers use computer testing to screen job applicants. Already, millions of online tests are administered each year in the military, the private sector and postsecondary education and by professional certification groups.

Computer versions of college placement tests and graduate school exams such as the GRE, GMAT and the Test of English as a Foreign Language are all available via computer, as is the Educational Testing Service's Praxis I for new teachers. An estimated 150 companies provide computerized testing programs of some kind, though few have a proven track record in K-12 education.

No single delivery form of computer- based testing exists. Sometimes the tests are housed on local servers or on the Internet, sometimes on diskettes or a hard drive. The source of test questions varies, too. Sometimes they consist of classroom teachers' homemade designs, while others are drawn from banks of state, national or proprietary test items. Sometimes computer tests involve written responses that require keyboard use. Some electronic tests give every student the same set of questions, while others adapt to each student's responses, giving harder or easier questions as the test proceeds.

No large school district or state system has yet moved completely into computer assessment. But there are systemic efforts linked to state standards--much more than just putting practice tests online or an end-of-unit test. In some cases, these tests are linked to performance and accountability systems that affect how schools are rated.

Rapid Turnaround

What nearly all computer-based tests have in common is that scores and detailed reports are often available within hours or days, if not immediately at the end of the test session. This short turnaround time, perhaps more than anything else, is a compelling feature of computer testing. Nearly immediate test results allow teachers to adjust instruction and enable administrators to adjust courses and groupings of students.

Computer testing also addresses many drawbacks of current resting practices, which include scoring errors, lost mail, postage and handling expenses, diminishing classroom instruction time and the high costs of human scorers for written exams. Like a Polaroid camera whose prints develop in minutes, computer-based testing programs can provide near-instant gratification to superintendents, board members, teachers and parents who have grown increasingly frustrated at long waits for test results.

For teachers and board members, getting test scores back almost immediately is one of the most worthwhile features of computer-based testing, says Judy Jones, director of assessment in Cobb County, Ga. "When we are able to talk to them about the immediacy of the results, that really makes them say, 'OK.'"