Let's go back to bubble sheets
Thursday, April 23, 2015 at 05:42AM 
All testing on line by ought-nine (Minnesota Dept of Education, 2008)
Back to pen by ought-ten (Minnesota Technology Directors, 2009)
When my daughter was in school, she claimed ITED (the Iowa Test of Educational Development) actually stood for the Idiotic Test of Endless Dots. Sounded about right to me.
In its technologically advanced state, however, education has brought testing into the digital age. Now, instead of using the infamous No. 2 pencil, a booklet, and a lovely sheet of ovals, we instead plunk kids down in from of a computer, and let them click on the bubble.
Talk about progress!
However this week, Minnesota like a number of other states who use Pearson as its testing vendor, experienced some technical difficulties. Slow loading, students being bumped off, long log-in times etc. An agonizing experience for kids already made anxious by teachers whose careers may depend on how well their charges do on these assessments.
Our Commish of Ed then ordered that all testing halt Wednesday until Pearson fingered out the problem with its systems. Underpowered servers (can't afford the fast ones?) and a "malicious" denial of service attack (has Pearson not heard of firewalls?), were the culprits according to the news. The MDE itself never sent out an explanation to schools that I saw.
While I love technology for many reasons and for many things, I do not think technology is the answer to every task. I like a doctor to look down my throat. I like a stylist to cut (what's left of) my hair. I'd rather a person wrote the books I read and cook the meals I eat. I would much sooner give a workshop in person than online. Testing may be one of those situations where analog just makes more sense than digital - assuming this amount and kind of testing actually makes any sense at all.
Is it time to reverse course on online testing and revert to good old No. 2 pencils and bubble sheets?
- State testing can be done in a single day or two rather than the multi-week "window" it now takes.
- Kids can read on real paper instead of computer screens.
- Kids and teachers can use the computer labs and media centers for educational purposes instead of testing.
- Professional personnel can be freed up for other tasks than readying labs, testing configurations, dinking with OS update scheduling, and other stuff.
- Labs can be reconfigured to support groups doing high powered productivity work rather than low-level 1:1 stuff. This would save some real money and real estate in buildings and make more sense, especially in 1:1 schools.
- And maybe, just maybe, would spend more time as a district looking at what the scores might mean than actually giving the tests themselves.
Yes, there are tests that have adaptive features such as NWEA's MAPS tests, but the bulk of the test we give, it seems, are little more than moving the paper test to an
I supported online testing for many years since it was the boogie man that made administrators who controlled budgets sit up and pay attention. "We need more bandwidth or testing won't work." "We need new computers or the testing won't work." "We need ____________ or the testing won't work." I got a lot of good stuff necessary for real educational uses of tech by waving the testing red flag often.
It may be time to find a new boogie man.
Reader Comments (3)
Yes! In my humble opinion I'm thinking these tesing publishers are the only ones profiting from this deal so why should we listen to them when they say they want to do it on computers? Provide the computers and the network upgrades and we'll be happy to! I don't see the point of doing their work for them. It makes the test-taking even slower than the paper pencil versions. Most kids are slow at typing and manipulating the mouse and like you said, the networks, scheduling and so on just aren't set up for this.
Need to take a look at the iPad issues that the Los Angeles school board had and is having - over one billion (with a B) spent and now they want their money back...and are asking for all of the iPads that were handed out returned.
HI Ninja,
The part of my brain that like conspiracy theories says that standardized testing is more about discrediting public schools than it is about helping kids. So anything that lowers scores is preferable. But then that's my suspicious mind...
Doug
Hi Kenn,
Yup, the iPad project in LA was a great lesson for all of us. I think heads rightfully rolled on that one. Big business - Apple or Pearson or _____ - need to be kept at arm's length and not be seen as educational experts. At least in IMHO.
Doug​