When Michigan students eventually take the Smarter Balanced Assessment—the Common Core State Standards-based exam that the state has signed on to adopt in 2015—they'll do so not on paper, but online. According to the Detroit Free Press, the change "marks a dramatic shift occurring in education: The traditional paper-and-pencil, fill-in-the-blank exams could become as much of a relic as learning cursive and using blackboards."
About 35,000 students across the state recently participated in a pilot program in which they took social studies exams online, reports the paper. And while some schools struggled to find enough computers for testing, both students and teachers saw advantages with the online format. Kate Cermak, administration and reporting analyst at the Michigan Department of Education said, "It's gone incredibly smoothly. I have to say I am surprised. ... The schools are reporting that their students seem to be more engaged and interested in taking the online assessment."
