It’s a new school year and Trisha’s in third grade. So far, we’ve had a good experience with the district and a great experience with the teachers.
From the get go, I’ve said that third grade would be a pivotal year. The print gets smaller and the expectations get higher. Third grade is also the year our district starts standardized testing. Our district participates in two sets of standardized testing, the NWEAs and the NECAPS. Only the NECAPs are federally mandated.
In our IEP meeting in the spring we discussed the testing and the necessary accommodations. Large print materials would be ordered for the NECAPs but the NWEAS are administered via the computer.
There are three sections to the NWEAS and the first, a reading test was started the second week of school. At the open house the night before the testing started, the teacher happened to mention that NWEAs would begin the next day. I HATE to be a helicopter parent, so I will typically leave the teachers alone until the third week of school. Then I make contact, and offer to answer any questions they might have and offer my assistance in the classroom.
I hesitantly asked Miss D. if she wanted me to come in to insure that the computer was set up so Trisha could see it. I am fluent in Mac and conversational in Windows. She looked relieved and jumped at my offer.
I showed up at the appointed time. The computer lab is mostly Mac laptops so I thought this would be a few quick keyboard commands and I’d be on my merry way. Yeah, right, you’d think by now, I’d know better.
I’ll save you the techno babble. The bottom line is that the testing is not run from a Mac, it is run as a client/server application and the software (Test Taker 6.1) will not allow any modifications. It is 12 point black type on light blue background. That’s it. Too bad if you can’t READ 12 point black type on a light blue background.
Kudos to the principal. He agreed it wouldn’t be a fair assessment and called the district’s tech team. Dan was on sit inside of an hour (I waited). He did a local install and played with .ini files to know avail. While he was fiddling, I was Googling NWEA. I searched their site for “visually impaired”. That’s when I knew we were in trouble. The only two search results talked about pencil and paper tests.
I did find a technical support number and the Dan called. NWEAs suggestion? Windows Magnifier. In the long run, not a bad suggestion. Not my preferred solution, but not a deal breaker, in the long run. In the short term? Not so good. Trisha’s never used Windows Magnifier and I’ll be darned if her introduction to it comes during an assessment test. The principal agreed.
I don’t feel the Pencil and paper test is a viable alternative for two reasons, the first is that the computerized test, individualizes to the student’s abilities. If they answer a question correctly, the next question is harder. If the student answers a question incorrectly, the software presents and easier question. You can’t do that with pencil and paper. The second reason is far more practical. The large print P&P test needs to be ordered in advance and the district has to pay for it and it wasn’t budgeted for this year.
We put the call out to Trisha’s Vision teacher and the regional assistive technology coordinator seeking assistance. ZoomText and BigShot were both suggested. To me, that is the same idea, but more expensive, as Windows Magnifier and I won’t allow her to use those tools in a testing environment until she’s had a chance to learn them and uses them comfortably.
I don’t know where we’ll go from here. I’ll be honest, I dislike standardized tests. I don’t think they are a true indication of a student’s progress. I won’t be disappointed if she doesn’t get to take the test, although I’m not sure the district feels the same way.
I will say that I am pleased thus far with the district’s response. Everyone has truly worked to solve the problem at hand. NECAPS start next week and her classroom teacher has already spoken with the SPED coordinator about the necessary accommodations (large print test, untimed, ability to write in the test booklet etc.) Miss D. and I are scheduled to confirm the arrangements on Monday by phone.
What have your experiences with standardized tests been? Does your district use computers or strictly pencil and paper?