Education Policy
Online Testing to be Phased in
with New TNReady Test Vendor
There is good news this fall on the testing front. TNReady
is on track to run smoothly this school year, and a lot of
work is currently underway to ensure success.
Back in July, the Tennessee Department of Education
(TDOE) announced that it is partnering with Questar
Assessment to offer tests that better fit within the
school day and school year. The new assessments are
also aimed at reducing overall testing time.
Questar, a national leader in large-scale assessments,
brings 40-years of experience to the table and has
worked on similar projects with comparable timelines
in both Mississippi and New York in just the past year
with successful results.
In Tennessee, the company is responsible for developing,
administering, scoring and providing reports for the
TNReady assessment program, including grades 3
through 8 State Summative Assessment in ELA and
Math as well as State End-of-Course Assessments in
ELA I, II, III; Algebra I and II; Geometry; and Integrated
Math I, II, and III.
As part of Questar’s years of experience, it has
developed and managed every type of summative
assessment program that exists and has been moving
states online to computer-based assessment for more
than a decade. The company is on the third generation
of its online testing platform, which is called Nextera.
The company’s vision is to provide state-developed
assessments to Tennessee students that both assist
educators and drive strong educational outcomes.
The company’s mission is to provide tools to bridge
accountability and learning.
It is also important to know that Questar is making a
real effort to work with the Department and educators
across the state to provide responsive customer
service and high quality assessments.
Representatives of the company are spending a lot of
time in Tennessee - not only in Nashville but across
the state - to hear directly from educators to meet
their needs and the needs of their students.
Jamie Candee, President and CEO of Questar, stated
it clearly during a recent visit in Tennessee, “We
are committed to building Tennessee assessments
specifically for Tennessee students.”
As part of the new assessment approach, TDOE
announced that online testing is scheduled to be
phased in over the next three years, with a paper
option always available for the state’s youngest
students.
For the 2016-17 school year, all testing in grades 3
through 8 will be done on paper. High schools will
have the option to test online if the schools and
Questar show early readiness for online administration,
however, districts can also choose paper for their high
school students if they prefer.
TDOE and Questar are also working together to
improve the overall scoring process so the assessments
can be administered in one window and ultimately,
results can be delivered to schools and families more
quickly.
These changes can make a real difference for Tennessee
teachers, students and parents. The Department has
taken feedback from across the state into account to
make these improvements, and Questar is being very
intentional about involving and engaging educators in
the process to ensure that the assessment experience
in Tennessee is an effective and efficient one.
In the coming months, we’ll see the results of these
efforts come to fruition as our students begin taking
the new tests, which are designed so that the best
test preparation is strong teaching and learning in the
classroom every day.