Local educators are looking for answers about new Washington schools chief Randy Dorn’s plan to dump statewide WASL exams and replace them with shorter tests.
Schools would move from pencil-and-paper to computer exams over the next three years with students taking the tests in shifts rather than all at once.
Some school leaders are concerned they might not have enough computers available. Others raise equity issues, fearing that young students with access to computers at home could have an advantage over those who don’t. A concern over whether the new exams will have the rigor of the Washington Assessment of Student Learning also exists.
And then there’s the grading by computer: Dorn proposes evaluating writing essays using software and many question how accurately the programs can score those tests.
“I have been hearing some of the same questions,” said Joe Willhoft, the state’s assistant superintendent for assessment under Dorn and his predecessor Terry Bergeson. “I’m hearing, ‘That sounds good, but how are we going to do this?’ I don’t hear that, ‘This is crazy.’”
Having enough computers for students to take the exams is a primary concern, said Nancy Katims, assessment director for the Edmonds School District. For instance, at high schools, computer labs are often used to teach technology classes. State testing could displace those students for two weeks.
“I love the idea,” she said. “We are just concerned about having the computers.”
Terry Edwards, curriculum director of the Everett School District, said the WASL has had some flaws, but, overall, it has improved focus on making sure schools focus on all students. He’s eager to see what the new tests will be like. “Are you making it as hard and rigorous as the WASL has been or are you making a 20-minute quiz and calling it a test. That’s the devil in the details.”
Willhoft, the state’s assistant superintendent for assessment, said he is confident the new computer-based tests will be equally demanding while taking less time.
Oregon began making the switch to computers for state exams in 2001. Now, nearly all students take their reading, science, math and social studies exams online. Writing continues to be a paper-and-pencil test.
Students can take the exams three times a year and get results within 48 hours, said Tony Alpert, assessment director for Oregon’s Department of Education. In Washington, WASL results take several weeks for high school students and months for younger grades.
“We try to provide really good feedback to students as soon as possible,” he said.
Unlike Washington, passing high school exams in Oregon is not part of graduation requirements. Alpert said computerized testing has some advantages, but the exams are only as good as the questions asked: “It’s a big change, and people need to enter it with their eyes open.”
As far as a computer-scoring essays, Willhoft said the technology has been evolving but the state will move with caution.
The state is working with the Princeton, N.J.-based Educational Testing Service, to develop a new set of tests that will replace WASL exams under Dorn’s plan.
“Assessment is a complex business and changing any system requires careful planning and execution to ensure that the state’s objectives are achieved,” said Thomas Ewing, a company spokesman.
Ewing said his company’s technology is called an “e-rater” and that computerized scoring of the writing exam could be tailored to Washington’s standards.
“As to what degree we’ll have to see,” he said.
Essays can be assessed by computer or by a combination of computer and humans, he said. It boils down to a cost-benefit analysis, he said.
“Adding one human reader has some slight increase in accuracy, but, depending on how the score is used and how high the stakes are, it might not be worth the extra taxpayers’ money and delayed results,” he said. “Interestingly, using e-rater alone produces highly accurate results.”
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