TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

School Tests Response To New Gadget

ADVERTISEMENT

By RONNIE BLAIR

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 12, 2008

DADE CITY - About 20 Pasco Elementary School students experimented Thursday with a new way of taking tests, a method that could provide a peek into the classroom of the future.

The children used a hand-held device called a student responder to plug in their answers on a third-grade math assessment that serves as a benchmark for measuring how much they know and what they need to learn.

The responders, which are roughly the size of a television remote control, feed the students' answers into a computer, enabling teachers and district administrators to know within minutes how well the students performed and what areas require further instruction. They quickly provide educators a wealth of data that otherwise might have taken days or weeks to compile.

"It will make my job easier," said teacher Marilyn Sampson, whose students were the first at the school to work with the responders.

The Pasco County School District also has tried out the devices at Chasco Elementary, Land O' Lakes High and Wesley Chapel High.

The district has 60 responders. That's not enough to put one in each school - much less one in the hands of all 63,000 students.

The district is considering purchasing more as part of a plan to administer semester exams in high schools.

The district wants to make widespread use of the responders.

"A goal would be to phase out pencil and paper completely and phase in student responders completely," Sarah Bombly, a supervisor in the district's research and evaluation department, said at a school board workshop in July.

That would be unlikely to happen for a long time, though, she said.

The responders, produced by a Texas-based company, eInstruction, provide plenty of benefits to the district, according to information compiled by Bombly and Peggy Jones, director of research and evaluation.

They reduce the cost of answer sheets, can be used for daily classroom assessments and can be used for schoolwide applications such as professional development of teachers, culture surveys, student government elections and prom king and queen elections.

The responders work well for multiple-choice and true-and-false tests. Students also can use them to give numerical answers to questions.

The devices are of no use for tests that require an essay or other written response. Bombly said that's just as well.

"You wouldn't want a computer program grading an essay," she said.

The responders have another drawback, too, and it's significant.

They are expensive.

The district estimates it would cost about $1,800 for one classroom set of 32 responders. In addition, there is an annual fee of $1,200 per school to subscribe to the software that runs the responders. Also, Jones said, the district estimates it would cost about $500 a year per school for batteries.

These are tight budget times in education, so providing every school with responders isn't something the district is contemplating for the near future.

Jones, though, said that between grant money and money in the district's capital budget, all the high schools could be equipped with responders. Not every classroom in those schools would have them, so sets would have to be shared.

Although the cost is daunting, school board members are still intrigued.

"If we think this will assist with student achievement, it may be the wisest investment we ever make," board member Allen Altman said.

Several other Florida districts, including Hernando County, have used the responders.

Bombly visited Pasco Elementary School on Thursday to help oversee the use of the equipment in Sampson's classroom.

Lindsay Campbell, the school's math resource teacher, also was involved. The students weren't taking the assessment Thursday because teaching them to use the responders as part of the actual assessment could have thrown off the results.

Campbell previously gave them a paper version of the test. She gave them their test booklets so they could plug their answers into the responders. She and Sampson took turns monitoring a laptop computer screen that told them instantly which students had answered a question and which ones had not responded.

"Isn't that cool," Campbell told the students.

After the students answered 29 questions, Campbell had Sampson put the computer to work.

In an instant, Sampson had the results for the entire classroom.

Reporter Ronnie Blair can be reached at (813) 948-4218 or rblair@tampatrib.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT