Rethinking Testing in the Age of the iPad

Students in Kelly Neuser's kindergarten class at Deer Run Elementary School in East Haven, Conn., use iPads during a reading e ercise in Decem!er. "Christo#her Ca#o$$iello %or Digital Directions

Schools administer assessments via mobile device

By Katie Ash

&n the ',())*student East Haven schools in Connecticut, elementary teachers did their initial student reading assessments a !it di%%erently this school year. &nstead o% using #a#er and #encil to +ot do,n o!servations a!out each o% their students and then collecting and analy$ing those notes !y hand, each teacher used an iPad to collect the in%ormation and send it to a centrali$ed data!ase through so%t,are %rom the Ne, -ork City*!ased ed*tech com#any Wireless Generation. ./ne o% our #rimary goals ,as to !e a!le to develo# a system that ,ould !ring a lot o% the data into one #lace,. says 0aylor 1uger, a technology*integration teacher in the district ,ho hel#ed incor#orate use o% the iPads into classrooms. .Previously, the data ,as #rocessed !y hand, and it ,asn't really !eing #ut to use e%%ectively. &'m all %or data, !ut that data has to drive instruction.. 2oving assessments onto mo!ile devices may o#en the door to 3uicker %eed!ack %or students and teachers as ,ell as richer data, !ut ,ithout #ro#er management o% the devices and a strong in%rastructure to su##ort them, integrating the devices can !e a challenge. .&t's great to have the technology,. says Erica 4orti, the district's assistant su#erintendent %or curriculum and instruction, .!ut once it's #urchased, there is a management #iece involved.. 5eaders in the East Haven district decided to !uy (6) iPads ,hen the lease %or deskto# com#uters in the elementary schools' com#uter la!s ,as u#. &nstead o% re#lacing those com#uters, they decided to e #lore mo!ile technology. .7e liked the idea o% having mo!ile com#uting devices, since most o% the technology ,as %i ed,. or stationary, says 4orti. .&t o#ened u# the doors %or di%%erent ty#es o% teaching and learning.. &n addition, having the data collected on the iPads allo,ed the in%ormation to !e easily shared ,ith #arents during con%erences, 4orti says.

2aintaining that one*teacher*to*one*student assessment ratio through the mo!ile devices is also im#ortant %or students, es#ecially in the earlier grades, says Krista Curran, the general manager o% assessment and intervention #roducts %or 7ireless 8eneration. .&n the early grades, the 9mo!ile: assessments are used !y teachers ,ith their students so it's less o!trusive, in order to make that interaction %riendly to the student,. she says. .0he end goal is to #rovide that immediate access to data that in%orms instruction.. ;7ireless 8eneration's %ounder and chie% e ecutive o%%icer, 5arry <erger, is a trustee o% Editorial Pro+ects in Education, the non#ro%it cor#oration that #u!lishes Education Week Digital Directions.= Making iPads Work 1%ter the East Haven elementary students ,ere initially assessed on their reading levels, the iPads ,ere distri!uted onto seven carts"one %or each elementary school in the district"to !e used %or instruction. 4rom a teacher's stand#oint, the iPads are an easy device to use, says 1uger. .0hey can #ick it u#, turn it on, and use it ho, they ,ish,. he says. .<ut the a!ility to do that,. he cautions, .re3uires a lot o% !ackground ,ork %rom the rest o% the technology team that i% you do not have, it ,ill not ,ork.. 0he district also under,ent an u#grade to a %i!er*o#tic ,ireless net,ork during the ()6)*66 school year, ,hich ,as critical to the success o% the iPad im#lementation, says 1uger. 1%ter the initial reading assessments, he says, some teachers have continued to use the iPads %or assessment !y having students take screenshots o% their scores on various educational a##s and email the images to the teachers to !e stored in the students' electronic #ort%olios.

1round the country, mo!ile devices, such as the iPads used in classes at Deer Run Elementary School, are !eing utili$ed #rimarily %or %ormative assessments rather than high*stakes tests. "Christo#her Ca#o$$iello %or Digital Directions

./ne o% the greatest things a!out the iPad is its versatility,. he says. .&t can really !e ,hat you ,ant it to !e.. Similarly, the (,)))*student 5o,ndes County school system in Hayneville, 1la., rolled out 6,6)) iPads to teachers in the district last %all ,ith the hel# o% Information Trans ort Sol!tions , or &0S, a technology*services com#any in 7etum#ka, 1la. Students in the district undergo a #re* and #ost*test every >? days in core su!+ects that hel#s #in#oint ,here students may need more su##ort, says 5ucy 5ong, the director o% #ro%essional learning %or &0S. .7e use the data %rom the #ost*test to really structure ho, ,e a##roach the ne t >? days,. she says. &n !et,een those assessments, teachers use the iPads to create their o,n assessments, ,hich are #ushed out to the students and then returned to the teacher %or data collection, says @ohn 5oiselle, an integration technology s#ecialist %or &0S. &n addition to using mo!ile devices to gather o!servational data, teachers can use the devices to get a glim#se into the thought #rocesses o% students, says Reshan Richards, the director o% educational technology at 2ontclair Kim!erley 1cademy, a #rivate school serving grades #reK*6( in 2ontclair, N.@. .-ou can gather a lot o% data 3uickly, and you can do a lot o% 3uick checks o% understanding in a class, !ut &'m more interested in the dee#er, more 3ualitative understanding that mo!ile might !ring,. Richards says.

4or instance, screencasting, ,hich records ,hat students are doing on the dis#lay screens o% their devices, allo,s teachers to see students ,ork through #ro!lems ,ithout having to stand over their shoulders the ,hole time, he says. 0hat kind o% assessment on a mo!ile device turns testing into more than +ust one num!er, Richards says. 2ost schools are hesitant, ho,ever, to +um# into assessing ,ith mo!ile devices, he says. "Rich #eedback" <ut those schools and classrooms that have em!raced mo!ile devices have seen them as a catalyst %or change in teaching, learning, and assessment, says @ulie Evans, the chie% e ecutive o%%icer o% the &rvine, Cali%.*!ased Pro+ect 0omorro,, a national education non#ro%it grou# that #romotes technology use in the classroom. .0he access o% having a 9mo!ile: device in your hand changes the ,ay that classroom environment %eels,. she says. .Students are ,alking around ,ith the devices, doing things to get them out o% the structured environment o% the traditional school.. 1nd !ecause students %eel a sense o% connection and o,nershi# over their mo!ile devices, they %eel .ena!led to !e #art o% the assessment #rocess,. says Evans. Christo#her Dede, a #ro%essor at the Harvard 8raduate School o% Education, also notes the uni3ue relationshi# !et,een students and their mo!ile devices. .Kids think o% #hones as an e tension o% themselves in a ,ay that they don't think o% ,ith la#to#s or ,orkstations,. he says. .Part o% ,hat you have is this intellectual #artnershi# ,ith your cell#hone ,here you do some o% the thinking, and your cell#hone does some o% the thinking, and then you're smarter.. Educators are !eginning to tackle ho, such devices can !e used %or assessment, taking into consideration screen si$e and assessment #lat%orms, says Dede. <ut it's clear, he says, that mo!ile devices have #otential as assessment tools in at least t,o ,aysA asking a 3uestion and getting an ans,er, and recording and ca#turing a #rocess. .7e can give students some kind o% thought 3uestion and look at the res#onse they give and understand %ormatively ,here they are in their com#rehension, and #erha#s modi%y ,hat comes ne t !ased on that kind o% %eed!ack,. Dede says. .&t's very rich %eed!ack %or students on ho, they're doing and ho, to get !etter.. Dede is also e #loring ho, mo!ile devices can !e used as assessment tools through .augmented reality,. a #rocess !y ,hich students interact ,ith the real ,orld, ,hich is enhanced !y in%ormation %rom a mo!ile device. 4or e am#le, students in a science class could take mo!ile devices onto school grounds and use them to identi%y #lants or trees, or students in a history class could use the 8PS ca#a!ilities on their mo!ile devices to lead them to sites o% historical im#ortance. St!dent$%&ned 'evices @ohnny Kissko, a math teacher %or the (,)))*student 4renshi# High School in the 4renshi# &nde#endent School District in 0e as, is also interested in using augmented reality in his classes. 0his school year, 4renshi# High has changed its #olicy to allo, students to !ring their o,n mo!ile devices into class at the discretion o% the teacher, says Kissko. 0aking advantage o% the ne, #olicy, Kissko has created ,orksheets %or his classes that use BR, or 3uick*res#onse, codes that #ull u# video solutions %or the #ro!lems his students are ,orking on. 0o read the BR codes, ,hich are !lack*and*,hite !arcode*ty#e images, students do,nload a##sC ,hen the a##s are running, the students hold their devices over the codes to !e linked to the ,e!site.
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1round the country, the mo!ile devices are !eing used #rimarily %or %ormative assessments rather than high*stakes standardi$ed tests. 4or e am#le, in the ?,)))*student Can!y school district, south o% Portland, /re., teachers are using classroom sets o% iPod touches to receive 3uick %eed!ack on ,here students are in learning their su!+ect matter, says @oe 2orelock, the director o% technology and innovation %or the district. .7e're doing a lot o% %ormative assessments on them,. 2orelock says. Dsing a##s such as iRes#onse and resources like 8oogle Documents, teachers are a!le to receive %eed!ack %rom students and record their o,n o!servations a!out students' #rogress, he says. 0eachers have %ull autonomy in deciding ,hich a##s they use and ho, they use the mo!ile devices in the classroom, says 2orelock. 0hat lee,ay cuts do,n on the management load %or the district's technology team. .0he teachers are u#dating them, syncing them, and they're %inding a thousand di%%erent ,ays to use them,. he says o% the devices. .&t's !een really incredi!le, and it really has to do ,ith the ease o% using the device, and the teachers really taking the lead..