Getting Away from Traditional Testing

Testing online has been my life for the past two weeks. There were some positives and negatives to this. On the plus side, testing online is more efficient, uses less paper and tools to give students, and is an easier process than the traditional paper and pencil tests. The online tests went by quicker than some of the paper and pencil tests and uses a venue that students are highly familiar with. The negatives were that I missed teaching my morning classes for two weeks, some computers did not have the links properly installed or loaded, and some computers had glitches that had not been taken care of before testing.

It would be great if all state and county high stakes testing could be completed online. I do feel that the option for pencil and paper should still be in place for the few students who actually do better with that option. The other issues would be extending the testing window (or starting earlier) in order to accommodate all students, making sure that every single computer is working properly to eliminate additional time used to troubleshoot during testing, and making sure that every school has the necessary numbers of computers to accommodate all the students for testing. Will the county move in this direction? Probably, but not anytime soon. With the budget cuts and restraints I know this is probably nonexistent on the list of needs and priorities. However, it needs to be addressed soon. As I see it, technology is moving forward, not backwards. So, it is imperative that our county administration keeps up.

I had the experience of being the test administrator for tests involving special needs students, general education students, and AP students. Behaviors varied, as expected, but I can say that the testing process was more efficient and used less time to pass out multiple tools students would need for testing. The Algebra test had the calculator online and their formulas sheet online as well. With time, I feel that this is the new direction for education. Yet, balance is always key. No matter how much technology advances, there is nothing that can replace that human interaction and need for human contact which makes teaching so magical.