EdTech Avenue

We have completed most of our Learnia tests now, save a few absent students. It actually went pretty well, if I had to give an overall opinion. But I’m starting this conversation about what could be done better and what tips and tricks others used to survive the sessions.

Overview
I made sure all student lab workstations were equipped with the proper add-ins/plug-ins needed for the testing, and I went through and enabled pop-ups for the student Learnia site ahead of time. We used Internet Explorer v.7 at Blessed Trinity.

I created cards for the students with their Site Code, Student ID/Username and Password. I used index cards and just pasted a regular mailing label on which I had printed the information using mail merge and a spreadsheet. The “test tickets” printed on the Learnia site are virtually useless - you really can’t use them more than once (even if you laminate them first, I learned last year), and they’re hard to store in those little strips. Each teacher got a set of student cards for each group they teach.

I also created a resource binder for each of my teachers. These binders contained:

• A list of their students with passwords,
• A copy of the instructions for tests they will administer,
• A full printed copy of the test (without answers), so they could make their own copies if giving the test in written form,
• Sample answer sheets to use if giving the test in written form, and
• Math reference sheets (for math teachers only).

This seemed to help them to know exactly what their responsibility was as test administrators and keeps all of their information in one place. My plan is collect the binders at the end of the year so they can be updated if necessary for next year’s teachers.

Scheduling the tests wasn’t nearly the hassle I expected. I had the teachers schedule their own time and was available to help for at least their first testing period. After that, they could request my help if they wanted it. Once students were logged on (more difficult with the 3rd and 4th graders), things went very smoothly, and most teachers did not need my help. Some teachers scheduled an additional time in the lab to teach students just how to log on to the site. Being their first time, I thought this was very beneficial as far as time efficiency was concerned. In future years, perhaps only the 3rd grade would need to do this, since most other students will be familiar with the process. Some teachers broke the tests up into multiple class periods and others used time from other classes to complete the tests in one sitting.

Issues and Questions
There are still some issues with the administrator instructions. Many of the specific instructions are incorrect (such as the existence of a highlight tool?). I found that to be confusing for the teachers and students, and in some cases the teachers went “off-script” to give instructions, which is not ideal for a standardized test.

Students (especially the younger ones) could benefit from a better zoom tool to make the text bigger. At younger reading levels, the students are used to larger text. The zoom tool, while helpful on the first reading passage, does not allow you to use it for the other passages, and it manipulates the screen in a way that prevents the user from being able to scroll properly.

Join the Conversation
Are other schools or teachers having similar experiences and issues? Please add to the conversation with your comments, good and bad, about your Learnia experience! I have also asked my teachers to add their comments here.

What are other schools doing for the mid-year testing? Is anyone using more than one ClassLinks test? If you are using only one, which one?