Understanding the Requirements
The consortium in which your state belongs goes a long way towards defining the headphone requirements for your district or school. Overall, the requirements vary only slightly between PARCC and Smarter Balanced, with Smarter Balanced being more descriptive in the headphone needs for their tests.
Both PARCC and Smarter Balanced agree on the testing components in which headphones will be used. English/Language Arts assessments will have audio components where students will need to hear prompts and passages. Also, students with visual impairments that require text to speech technology will require headphones for the entire test. Full headsets with a microphone will be needed for students who require speech to text accommodations.
Smarter Balanced has gone into more depth about what they expect for headphone procurement:
- Connection by USB is preferred; standard headphone jacks will be acceptable.
- Devices and desktop computers must have sound cards with appropriate voice packs loaded for text-to-speech needs. Testing with sample and field tests is recommended.
- Microphones are expected to be necessary for all students in future assessments, as designers move toward more natural input structures.
The Current State of Headphone Usage
In their technology briefings and other released materials, both consortia admit that the state of headphone usage among schools and districts is not adequate for the needs of their tests. School districts tend to buy headsets in bulk, made of the least durable components in order to lessen costs. They quickly fall into a state of disrepair. What was once a class set might only cover half the class one year into their life cycle.
From the assessment requirements, it is apparent that every student will need a pair of working headphones at least for the duration of their English/Language Arts testing, with more needed for students requiring accommodations. Without headphones, speakers will have to be used, creating a logistical nightmare for most schools when pairing students with testing sites; students would have to be tested alone.
As very few schools offer a 1:1 student/computer ratio, it can be assumed that every available computer will be used during a school’s testing cycle. In turn, each computer will need a set of reliable headphones in order to meet the device requirements of the testing consortia. Although headset status figures aren’t available, let’s look at the current standing of one state’s device infrastructure and how it stacks up to a consortium’s device readiness standards, including available headsets. Louisiana is a PARCC member state.
- This method is helping students excel under Common Core - June 16, 2014
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