'TESTING DAY' TAKES ONLINE TURN.

Byline: Anne Williams The Register-Guard

A couple of kids yawned, and a few stretched and fidgeted.

But none of the fifth-graders in the Awbrey Park Elementary School computer class looked especially anxious - not like you'd think they might on "Testing Day."

That could be because they were well-prepared, but it also might have had something to do with the medium.

"It was fun," 10-year-old Cody Marks said after class, standing near a row of snappy iMacs.

"I think this way is better because your hand doesn't get tired," said Jessica Smith, 11, who had actually forgotten that it was Day One of the state's reading multiple choice test, given over two or three days.

This is the first year Awbrey Park has used the Technology Enhanced Statewide Assessment (TESA), an option that's been available to all Oregon schools since 2001.

While the kids seemed to cotton right to it, Principal Karen Hardin wasn't so sure. The math test - given to third- and fifth-graders last month - was a hit, she said; the kids felt comfortable with the technology, and nearly all of them met or surpassed state standards.

"But I'm not as in love with the reading test," she said. "I'm still going to save my opinion until I hear what the kids think about it and see how they do."

Officials with the state Department of Education hope Awbrey Park will stick with it, and that other schools will embrace the technology. Where it takes weeks, sometimes months, to get scores back from the paper-and-pencil tests, TESA offers near-immediate results, giving teachers time before the end of the school year to work with students in areas where they lag.

With TESA, students are also able to take the test a second time (next year they'll have three tries) if they don't pass.

And, while the up-front costs were high, TESA also will save the state money in the long run, officials say, by eliminating the need to print, distribute and score thousands of paper tests.

On Wednesday, with schools all over the state administering the reading and math multiple choice tests, the TESA system had its highest load ever, project manager Chris Minnich said: 3,500 kids on the system at once.

By the end of the testing window next month, Minnich expects that about three-fourths of Oregon's 1,200 schools will have completed at least one test using TESA, adding up to between 400,000 and 450,000 individual tests.

"That would be a big jump for us" over last year's 255,000, he said.

All Bethel schools are using TESA for some tests, as are most Eugene middle and high schools and a growing number of elementary schools.

"It's really increased schools' flexibility and allowed kids to test in an environment they're used to," Minnich said.

But not everyone is eager to take the plunge. In fact, a few schools have dipped a toe and pulled back.

Eugene's River Road-El Camino del Rio Elementary School gave fifth-graders both the reading and math tests online last year, with disappointing results. Students seemed to have a difficult time, Principal Sara Cramer said, and scores dropped significantly in both subjects.

One of the biggest problems, she said, appeared to be kids' ability to navigate and comprehend large blocks of text on a computer screen. And what had initially appeared to be one of the biggest benefits of online testing - the chance for students who miss the mark to try again - actually backfired, she believes.

"For kids who may have low resiliency, it was so punishing to make them take the test again," said Cramer, whose school has comparatively high numbers of low-income and Latino students.

For now, it's back to pencil and paper, she said, although she says the school will probably try again in a few years, assuming the state finds ways to refine the system to address some of her concerns.

"I don't want us to be a guinea pig," she said. "With the high stakes of testing, it's hard in this day and age. I'm scared to try it again."

North Eugene High School was one of the first schools in the state to try TESA, and Principal Peter Tromba said he's seen good results overall.

"Kids are more focused on the computer screen than they are on paper," he said. Getting the score right away has also helped motivate kids to do well and allowed teachers to intervene and boost performance on the second try, he said.

But after two years of giving the reading test online, the English department staged a "revolt," he said, and now the school is back to pencil and paper.

"If everybody had a 19-inch (computer) screen, maybe it would be OK," he said. But as it is, booklets appear easier for kids to negotiate than blocks of text on a screen.

Springfield schools have yet to try out TESA, although Keith Hollenbeck, the district's assessment chief, says a few may pilot it next year.

"We're heading that way," he said, though he is leery about whether TESA can be administered equitably among students and schools, given differences in learning styles and computer equipment. He also dislikes what many view as one of the biggest negatives about TESA: Students can not go back and change an answer during the test.

Test scores have become increasingly important, with the federal government now holding schools accountable for showing "adequate yearly progress" on assessments.

Oregon requires all third-, fifth-, eighth- and 10th-graders to complete tests in reading and math; some of those grades must also take writing, math problem solving and science tests. Only the math, reading and science tests can be given online.

State officials insist that the tests have been sufficiently "calibrated" to ensure that scores on paper and on computer are statistically equivalent.

While Oregon was one of the first, more states are moving toward computer assessment, with at least 11 now either offering or requiring online testing at all schools.

After the better part of a week of administering the reading test online, several Awbrey Park teachers said they think it's going well, although they won't see scores until next week.

"I just noticed they were a lot calmer and more serious about taking the test," fifth-grade teacher Mike Lazar said. "Kids are into computers. It's a tool they're real familiar with."

CAPTION(S):

Sitting in the computer lab at Awbrey Park Elementary, fifth-grader Kevin Aleman and classmates work on the state's reading multiple choice test on Wednesday.