TeachME Professional Development

1. Computer-based testing (CBT) has emerged as one of the recent "innovative" approaches to assessments, as it is lauded as the answer to having cheaper and speedier test delivery for state and district-wide assessments and also seen by some as an avenue toward greater accessibility for students with disabilities.

2. Each of the following is an accurate statement about the advantages of computer-bsed testing EXCEPT:

3. One stumbling block for the push to widespread use of computer-based and online assessments is that students in rural schools or schools with high percentages of African American students may be less likely to have less access to computers.

4. Universal design of assessment generally means an approach that involves developing assessments for the widest range of students from the beginning while maintaining the validity of results from the assessment, as well as referring to multiple means of representation, action/expression, and:

5. Systems implementation challenges of CBT include factors that affect how students (and sometimes teachers) perceive and interact with the test along with actors that affect how accessible a test is to a wide range of students.

6. In recent years, the Innovations for All Testing Program has been funded with federal dollars to support the development of innovative assessments based on a set of common core standards that, among many other qualities, made effective and appropriate use of technology.

7. For states that administered some type of assessments through CBT, the greatest number were regular assessments followed by:

8. The availability of paper versions for CBT varied across states, but all states that used paper versions considered them to be an accommodation rather than an approach that anyone could use.

9. Computer-based testing was administered across all school levels, from elementary to high school, for the majority of states that used this method.

10. For end of course exams, most states who used CBT offered a paper version of the exam to any student who requested it.

11. Many states are exploring new ways to make CBT more sophisticated and interesting for students, including the development of:

12. CBT design and development often are based on assumptions that drive decisions about the nature of the assessment, the tools involved, and potential students responses, and an example of a specific assumption is that is all students interact with computers in the same way, and that they are similarly engaged when a test is on a computer platform.

13. Computer-based testing occurs within the broader educational context, which includes the infrastructure of the building and classroom as well as the computer platform itself, and also occurs within a context in which teachers and students have had differential experiences with computers, which all must be considered when deciding if CBT is appropriate.

14. Each of the following is an accurate statement about accessibility features that are incorporated into CBT EXCEPT:

15. Results from field testing and full test administration should be continually examined to determine whether any accessibility features or other characteristics of the assessment are not working as intended.

16. Although long term cost savings for CBTs are not known, in the short run, they often cost less than paper and pencil tests because once they have been developed, they do not need to be printed or shipped.

17. Some of the challenges with computer-based testing include finding instructional time to teach students how to navigate the test and how to use online tools and being able to train educators and technology staff.

18. Computer-based tests that tailor the test items that a student receives based on his or her correct or incorrect responses to previous items are known as:

19. One accessibility advantage of CBT for students with disabilities is that it may create ease for those who need a more concrete representation of things.

20. Some CBTs may require more working memory than similar paper and pencil tests, when, for example in a reading passage, less text typically appears on the screen at any one time than on a page in a test booklet, and students who need to scroll through a passage may miss or forget key information that is needed to answer an item.