In 2015, the V.I. Department of Education will officially make the jump from the traditional paper testing to online assessments; it will eventually replace the old VITAL-S with the more modern and interactive exams offered by the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC). In order to prepare for the transition, schools throughout the territory sat down from April to June for field testing that would give the department some valuable student input and ultimately identify any challenges with the system.
Information gathered from students and test administrators about their field test experience will inform the assessment transition plan to determine what the Education Department will do next year and what areas need to be improved, according to State Assessment Director Alexandria Baltimore-Hookfin.
She also said that within the past two weeks, the V.I. entered into an agreement with five other states (Idaho, Washington, Hawaii, West Virginia and South Dakota) to begin selection of a vendor that will host the test engine and provide VIDE with the support it needs to administer the operational assessments in 2015.
VIDE adopted the Common Core State Standards in 2010, and since then, it has brought everything from new textbooks to professional development and training sessions for teachers and staff into its implementation strategy. In order to make the next step to online assessments, Education Commissioner Donna Frett-Gregory spent months working with the department’s technical staff to identify the technical needs of each school, streamline connectivity issues and gather the necessary equipment.
According to VIDE’s Office of Instructional Technology Director Dr. Clinton Stapleton, many of the territory’s computer labs were outfitted with new thin clients, which replaced the existing, older, hardware. The thin client devices are easier to manage and maintain and are more energy efficient, and they can hook up to a centralized server.
Training sessions with state, district and school technical staff were also conducted, focusing on how to manage and configure the devices for now ongoing field testing.
“The switch to a new online assessment system aligned to the Common Core will not only allow students to be better prepared for college and the workforce, but will give our schools and parents more timely feedback about the students’ performance – ultimately allowing us to track student progress from elementary to high school — while the tests themselves will become more interactive and accessible, boosting student engagement overall,” VIDE Assistant Commissioner Dr. Sarah Mahurt said.
Over the next few months, the department will also continue working with its administrators and teachers to ensure that the online assessments remain fair, accessible and are administered appropriately to all students. Continuing to work on making sure that the proper technological infrastructure is in place before the testing begins will also be a top priority.
Nationwide, studies show that a large majority of educators are enthusiastic about the implementation of the Common Core State Standards and expect them to lead to greater student achievement. While it is not expected that student testing scores will show a dramatic jump during the 2014-2015 school year — the first official year of VIDE’s newly adopted Common Core assessments — teachers have said they look forward to seeing achievement steadily increase as students become more exposed to the rigorous curriculum.
For more information, visit: http://www.smarterbalanced.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Smarter-Balanced-Teachers.pdf.