Educators Share Technology Concerns About Potential Testing Changes

By Jill Kasparie, Reporter

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By Lisa Kunkel

Story Created: Feb 7, 2012 at 8:53 AM CDT

Story Updated: Feb 7, 2012 at 11:20 AM CDT

MARION, Iowa - State leaders are working on a plan that could overhaul Iowa’s testing system.

Jason Glass, the state’s education director, wants to get rid of the Iowa Assessments, which are commonly known as the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills. He supports a different testing system called the Smarter Balanced Assessment.

Some teachers and school administrators are on board with the idea, while others have concerns. “I would say I’m cautiously optimistic,” said Grant Wood Area Education Agency Chief Administrator Joe Crozier.

“At this point in time, I’m still at a hold and wait situation. I need to see what is going to come out of the legislature for one,” said Marion Independent School District Assistant Superintendent Greg Thomas.

The assessment would measure students against a set of standards. That’s different than the current test, which compares students to other students.

“One thing, [it] would be a computer generated test. So we’d get immediate results. That’s different from when we take the ITBS, we send those in to be scored. We get them back six to eight weeks later,” Crozier said.

If the Smarter Balanced Assessment is put in place, standardized tests would likely take place in a computer lab. Many educators are starting to wonder if they’ll need to invest in technology upgrades.

“Schools don’t have the facilities to test. For example, in our high school, we don’t have computer facilities to test 700 kids over a week or so. It’s going to have to be a much longer process,” Thomas said.

“That would be a big issue. When you use the technology that needs to be done, it takes a lot of internet bandwidth to do that and we’re not sure how much bandwidth will be required. So, do schools have enough bandwidth? That’s a big question mark,” Crozier said.

The assessment is set to come out sometime during the 2014/2015 school year.

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