Poland school officials weighing how to take state tests

POLAND

School officials will decide in the next few days whether students will use pencil and paper, computers or some combination of the two to take state tests in the spring.

“My gut feeling is that we’re going to do more paper and pencil than computers for the first year,” said Ed Kempers, principal of McKinley Elementary School. “If we do it like that, we’ll lose a lot less instructional time.”

Although Poland School District got a near-perfect assessment of its technological devices that can be used for the tests that Ohio students will be taking for the first time this year, Superintendent David Janofa says the district has to adapt to meet the technology and timeline requirements of the tests.

“This is a daunting task,” he said.

While some parents have raised concerns about the district not having enough computers on which students can take the tests, Janofa said the biggest challenge is how the test is set up.

“It’s not a computer issue, it’s a time issue,” he said.

The state test, PARCC — Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers — includes three units of English language arts and two units of mathematics to be taken in late February or early March, and then one to two units of English language arts and two units of math to be taken at the end of the year for elementary, middle school, and ninth and tenth grade students.

Students also must take science and social studies tests.

Each testing round has to be completed within 20 days.

“You’re looking at a lot of different tests you have to fit in,” Janofa said.

This is in contrast to the Ohio Achievement Assessments, the state tests students previously were required to take. The OAAs required one block of time for each subject, rather than two or three blocks of time.

Another change with PARCC is that, as of the 2015-2016 school year, testing must be completed online.

Read more about the new testing in Wednesday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.