According to a colleague, the Texas Education Agency has posted the results of a survey that was completed by a significant number of school districts in Texas.
The study includes:
- a review of prevailing state practices regarding computer-based testing
- a review of the literature related to the compatibility of assessment results from computer-and paper-based tests
- a comprehensive survey of all school districts regarding their readiness to move toward computer-based testing and
- case studies of six representative Texas school districts.
Some of the findings that caught my eye:
- 9% of campuses statewide have enough computers to administer all but accommodated tests online.
- Response rate was 98% with 1,214 districts and charter schools and 8,220 campuses participating.
- 99% of participating campuses have Internet access, 85% are high-speed
- 933,000 computers are available for use with 40% in classrooms and 60% in computer labs or libraries
- 6% have enough computers for all enrolled students to test at the same time during one test administration
- Approx 5% of the responding campuses with students in grades 2-12 have no computers at all available for online testing
- 55% of campuses reported having access to adaptive technology for students needing accommodations
- Campuses vary greatly the quality and quantity of their available computer resources.
- Laregest reported technology-related expenditures were for purchasing new hardware and replacing existing hardware.
- Fewer than 1/3rd of districts reported typically replacing their computers within 4 years or sooner, and more than half do not do so until after 5 years or more.
- Burdens districts/campuses expect to encounter include increased technology burden, insufficient number of computers, lack of backups/alternatives in the event of system failure, unable to meet the needs of students requiring accommodations while testing online.
- Lack of equitable access across the student population to computers and the technology skills necessary for online testing.
- Digital gap was perceived as being primarily attributable to student body’s socio-economic status; districts reported a belief that students from lower socio-economic families with more limited access to computers outside of school might be at a disadvantage with respect to online testing when compared with other students.
- In a one week testing window, approx 65% of the state’s schools currently have enough computers to support online testing.
- To deal with Internet bandwidth issues, expand testing windows from a single day to multiple days per test, route network data through a campus, or by putting additional computers in place at either the district or campus level to serve as test-caching stations.
- To move to full online testing, massive movement of computers and/or students would be required–which has the potential to significantly disrupt instruction.
- 79% districts said that if testing were online, they’d feel a reduced need to handle secure paper materials.
Several options were identified as possibilities…
- Full transition to online under current TAKS: campuses need more than 2.4 million computers, with approx 1.5 million additional computers needing to be purchased.
Total cost is $2 billion with annual operational cost of $520 million. - Introducing Time Limits: Provide for 2 test sessions per day resulting in a need for 1.2 million computers with $728 million transition cost and annual cost of $262 million.
- Extending the Testing Window: Each separate TAKS test, by grade and subject, would be given a one-week scheduled window. Cost for transition is $310 million with annual cost of $151 million.
- Partial Implementation (recommended option): Only secondary grades would be tested. 330,000 computers would be needed, 65% of all Texas schools in grades 7-12 have enough computers to meet required readiness capacity. Cost would be $197 million with annual of $81 million.
Other neat stuff:
- During 2007-2008, districts reported spending more than $735 million statewide on technology, of which $26 million was allotted for online testing.
- Median amount spent on tech per district was approximately $90K, and the mode was $30K.
- Top 3 online testing challenges as perceived by districts and campuses: 1) Increase technology burden (84% districts;80%campuses); 2) Not enough computers (82% districts, 83% campuses); and 3) The necessity of providing backups/alternatives in the event of system failure (79% districts, 74% campuses).
Case study feedback:
- Three districts, two with large numbers of limited English Proficient (LEP) students and one large urban district, expressed concerns about assisting students with special needs. . .districts were concerned they would be unable to support the large number of LEP students who would be testing. In addition, the large urban district expressed concern about the feasibility of conducting online testing at alternative campuses.
- Difficulty in coordinating between assessment and technology departments.
Some of my favorite graphs:
There is a lot more…..
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