For the first time, most state-required summative assessments in U.S. elementary and middle schools will be administered via technology rather than by paper and pencil in the 2015-16 school year, according to a report released Thursday by EdTech Strategies, LLC, a research and consulting firm
It's a major milestone that goes well beyond students using a mouse and keyboard to record responses to test questions. "The shift to online testing has done more for the educational technology movement than any other single initiative," said Doug Levin, president of EdTech Strategies, who wrote Pencils Down: The Shift to Online & Computer-Based Testing. That shift has required building "an infrastructure to support digital learning in schools and ensuring that kids have sufficient access," he said, adding that there's still "quite a ways to go" in terms of equity of access so students are learning from educators who effectively integrate technology into their teaching.
Levin identified five reasons online testing offers "compelling advantages" over paper-and-pencil assessments. He wrote that they can better assess what students understand and how they perform; offer better accessibility for students with special needs; be administered more efficiently, and scored faster; and offer improved security and increased student motivation and engagement. By "improved security," Levin explained that there is a decreased chance for cheating on computer-based tests. The Atlanta cheating scandal could not have happened in online assessments, he said.
