Older school systems will support new computer-adaptive testing
By Tom Chorneau
Friday, January 18, 2013
The national consortium developing new computer-adaptive assessments that California has a qualified commitment to use, has released an analysis of the technology requirements districts will need to access the testing – and the results suggest many older computers will support the program.
The Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium is on schedule to produce testing for grades 3, 8 and 11 in new English and math standards aligned with common core curriculum standards for use in the 2014-15 school year.
There has been growing concern among officials in California – as well as other cash-strapped states – that the existing array of computers being used in districts may not have the hardware or operating systems to properly administer the sophisticated tests.
And the notion of buying tens of thousands of new computers given the state’s fiscal condition was ruled out long ago.
And the notion of buying tens of thousands of new computers given the state’s fiscal condition was ruled out long ago.
But officials at the Olympia, Washington-based education cooperative report that fairly modest system requirements will support the testing, including computers running Windows XP with just 128 megabytes of RAM and only 52 megabytes of free space on a hard drive.
For MAC users, the news is also good: OSX10.4.4 operating systems will support the new tests with 256 megabytes