Online testing debacle in Wyoming provides a warning to other states
Technical problems erupted as soon as Wyoming switched to online testing in 2010. Students were unable to submit their tests after spending hours taking them. At times the questions wouldn’t load on the screen. And ultimately the scores were deemed unreliable.
“We had so many poor kids who had to take the test again,” said Gordon Knopp, technology director of Laramie County School District No. 1, the largest school district in Wyoming.
As exams move online, students spend more time testingOnline testing was such a debacle that voters threw the state superintendent of education out of office and the state sued Pearson, the company hired to administer the test. (The state reached a $5 million settlement with
Fifth graders at Townsend Elementary in the Appoquinimink district waiting to begin the state standardized reading test. (Photo by Sarah Garland)In the Appoquinimink school district in central Delaware, students now take three, and sometimes four, versions of the state math and reading tests online each year. In the near future, this may become the norm in schools across the country, as computers allow states to give standardized tests multiple times a year.
Giving students more tests is something the online test developers are encouraging. They say teachers will be able to receive results immediately, which can help them change their teaching methods if students are not
A student at Townsend Elementary in the Appoquinimink school district in Delaware taking a computer-based test. (Photo by Sarah Garland)TOWNSEND, Del. – On a recent afternoon at Townsend Elementary School here, a little boy squinted at a computer screen and gripped his mouse. He was stuck. Half of the screen contained an article about rainforests. The other half was filled with questions, some multiple-choice, some not.
One question asked the boy to pick two animals that belonged in the rainforest from a list of pictures and written descriptions. Then he was supposed to drag the animals across the screen onto the rainforest background. Next, he had to move two correct descriptions of rainforest characteristics into boxes. He raised his hand.
“We had so many poor kids who had to take the test again,” said Gordon Knopp, technology director of Laramie County School District No. 1, the largest school district in Wyoming.
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New online tests hold promise, perilsAs exams move online, students spend more time testing
As exams move online, students spend more time testing
Fifth graders at Townsend Elementary in the Appoquinimink district waiting to begin the state standardized reading test. (Photo by Sarah Garland)Giving students more tests is something the online test developers are encouraging. They say teachers will be able to receive results immediately, which can help them change their teaching methods if students are not
New online tests hold promise, perils
A student at Townsend Elementary in the Appoquinimink school district in Delaware taking a computer-based test. (Photo by Sarah Garland)One question asked the boy to pick two animals that belonged in the rainforest from a list of pictures and written descriptions. Then he was supposed to drag the animals across the screen onto the rainforest background. Next, he had to move two correct descriptions of rainforest characteristics into boxes. He raised his hand.