Dive Brief:
- Despite having all of the resources in place, hundreds of Illinois schools are sticking to paper-and-pencil exams on this year's spring assessments for fear of digital hiccups in the testing process.
- Officials are wary of any tech malfunction that would distract teachers or students and hurt test scores as the new Common Core-aligned Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) exams are taken for the first time.
- According to the Chicago Tribune, a quarter of students in the state are estimated to continue using paper and pencil this year.
Dive Insight:
Interestingly, paper exams are actually more expensive than digital once one factors in all of the packing and shipping and delivery costs. That said, these Illinois districts have every right to be wary of digital exams, as many other states have reported similar issues.
Take for example the 80,000 Indiana students who had their tests interrupted in 2013 because of CTB/McGraw Hill server issues. These problems continued again last spring, when a number of slow and freezing computers during the state's practice tests led to fears that testing malfunctions would once again disrupt the annual ISTEP test.
Similar issues have also been documented in Kansas, Florida, and Oklahoma.
