Mouse clicks replaced pencils and bubble sheets for hundreds of Clark County middle-schoolers taking state exams this spring.
This year, for the first time, the state offered sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade reading and math tests in online formats. School districts had the option of administering those portions of the Measurements of Student Progress exams via computer or traditional paper-and-pencil. About 25 percent of the state’s middle school students took the tests online, including several hundred in Clark County.
The results of the online and paper-and-pencil exams were released Tuesday. Both tests offered the same type of questions. State school Superintendent Randy Dorn said test scores for students who tested online were statistically dead-even with the scores for students who took the written exams.
However, students appeared to prefer taking the test on computers.
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The state surveyed 89,000 students who took the online reading and math tests. Of them, 82 percent of students said they preferred taking the test electronically, Dorn told reporters at a press conference in Olympia.
“It was a big success,” Dorn said. “… I believe online testing is the future.”
Next year, the state plans to roll out additional online tests and will continue to do so until all of the tests are taken on the Internet.
In Camas, eighth-graders from both middle schools took the reading portion of the test online. Skyridge Principal Aaron Smith said most students liked the format.
“I think it’s really a kid-friendly format because this is where they live for the most part, interacting with their smart phones, interacting with their computers. This is really a good venue for them,” Smith said.
Students liked having the reading passage remain on the screen as they constructed written responses or selected from multiple answers, Smith said. In the paper-and-pencil format, students have to flip booklet pages to re-read the passages. Students also favored the tools that allowed them to highlight and underline text in their responses.
Most Woodland students also favored the online versions. Seventh- and eighth-graders took both the math and reading tests online.
“The teachers polling the kids and working with the kids said the general reaction was really positive,” Woodland Superintendent Michael Green said.
But students and teachers in Woodland did have one common complaint: text limitations. Some of the answer boxes limited the number of characters students could enter. The limitations aren’t unusual for online tests. However, Green said students and teachers were unaware of the limitations before taking the test.
In Camas, some students said the constant clicking of computer keyboards during test time was somewhat distracting.
Despite the hiccups, Green said the new testing method was a natural way to integrate technology.
Students in the Ridgefield and Washougal districts, the Green Mountain School and the Home Choice Academy also took portions of the test online.
Marissa Harshman: 360-735-4546 or marissa.harshman@columbian.com.
