Site helps districts implement online tests and plan for digital learning
SETDA has launched The Guide to Technology Requirements, a website to help school and district leaders understand the detailed requirements for the online assessments being developed by all six state-led assessment consortia aligned to new college- and career-ready standards.
Just as important, it provides guidance to help districts consider these requirements in the overall context of school technology needs.
The Guide to Technology Requirement is free to access at: http://gtr.setda.org.
The site culminates months of work with all six state-led assessment consortia: the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC), the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (Smarter Balanced), the WIDA Consortium (WIDA), the English Language Proficiency Assessment for the 21st Century (ELPA21) consortium, DLM Alternate Assessment System (DLM), and the National Center and State Collaborative (NCSC).
“This site will be an invaluable resource, particularly for educators who support English language learners and students with significant cognitive disabilities. It’s heartening to see representatives of the assessment consortia, state education agencies, and SETDA working together to provide this kind of resource to educators,” stated Phil Olsen of the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction and the Project Lead for the WIDA consortium.
“Many schools and districts already are thinking about how to meet the technology requirements for the new tests, and this site will prove invaluable for their planning needs today and into the future as technology requirements for testing evolve,” said Douglas Levin, Executive Director for SETDA. “In preparing for online testing, school districts should take the opportunity to evaluate their overall technology needs, including for teaching, learning and the day-to-day operations of their schools. The guidance we provide along side of the technology requirements for all consortia’s assessments will help districts do just that.”
The Guide to Technology Requirements provides an interactive chart that allows users to view the assessment consortia to which their state belongs, along with the technology requirements for the assessments from those consortia. Users can customize the chart based upon the technology that is appropriate for their district and access resources related to the effective implementation of technology for learning as well as assessment.
“In developing The Guide to Technology Requirements, SETDA reinforces a message Smarter Balanced and all consortia have emphasized from the beginning: technology is for learning and assessments,” stated Brandt Redd, Chief Technology Officer for Smarter Balanced. “We are excited to let districts know about it.”
“Thank you for creating this great resource,” said Susan Van Gundy, Director of Technology Assessments for PARCC. “It takes the mystery out of some seemingly complex requirements for the assessments across consortia.”
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