Smarter Balance Assessment Consortium and Chromebooks

In South Dakota today, there was a conference call with the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) in regard to the technology standards and recommendations for the future SBAC testing. For our school district, this is particularly important as we are almost finished with our decision on new computers for the next year. We do not know what we are going to do, yet, and are looking at all options. While making this decision, there were a lot of considerations, but testing compatibility is paramount.

They have said that for the 2014- 15 and 2015- 16 school year (the first two years of the SBAC/ CCSS tests) that the Chromebook will be compatible. I'm excited for the implications that this may bring across the country and what Google may do to help with SBAC testing. As the Common Core State Standards Initiative is not going away, I am sure that the Google Chrome browser and, subsequently, the Chromebook will have to follow.

There was also talk of the iPad being used for testing. SBAC said that they did a beta test with 800 students (no word on the age of these students) testing on the iPad and students did not like using the virtual (on-screen) keyboard. These were iPad 2s using iOS 6 and the iTester App. The discussion from SBAC about iPad minis was solidly a "no" for testing purposes as the screen was too small. (On a bit of a tangent, I was unsure how I would like the iPad mini, but once it was in my hand... I am a believer that the iPad mini has a place in our schools.) Our district had 4th graders and 5th graders testing on the iPad 2 during a Benchmark testing pilot and had no troubles with the keyboard. I think that testing on the iPad with a virtual keyboard would only be an issue with students that do not use the iPad on a regular basis.

Also, I think that it also matters what age the students were that were in the pilot. If it was 800 Juniors testing that have only had access to iPads for an hour a week or only one class a day, as opposed to students in a 1:1 iPad environment, it may be a more serious impediment to the validity of the test. I think that we will find this a question of testing validity as other testing goes online in districts that do not currently have a 1:1 environment.

I am glad that the SBAC is looking into all types of operating systems and hardware options. I hope that no matter what, students are able to test on what they currently feel comfortable using regularly.