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Tonya Watts
EDU-225
October 19, 2014
Professor John














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www.education-is-fun.weebly.com
Technology to Support Assessment
In classrooms all over the world, students are taking formative and summative assessment
tests to check for their knowledge on a variety of subject matter. While it is very important that
all students take assessment tests; would it not be easier to test students knowledge using
technology. Lets do away with the paper, fill in the bubble testing, and grow with technology.
States have slowly begun to adopt new technologies, such as the Internet, for student testing. Just
over one-half of U.S. states, use computers to deliver a portion of the annual state testing
programs mandated by No Child Left Behind. (Bausell, 2008)
Children in all classrooms and grades have to take two types of testing; formative and
summative. The formative assessment is used to check a students academic progress throughout
the learning process. The information gained from this test will help me know if students
understand the content that is given to them and helps the teacher consider the additional
learning opportunities needed to ensure every childs academic success. When technology is
used to give this assessment, the teacher will receive timely feedback to share with their
students. This type of testing also helps students take ownership of their own learning. When a
child takes a summative assessment, it provides the teacher with the information about what a
student has learned throughout the year. This type of test occurs at the end of the school year, it
measures the students achievement with an expected standard, and provides the student, teacher,
parent, and administration with a letter grade on a childs academic progress. With technology,
assessment can become richer, timelier, and more seamlessly interwoven with multiple aspects
of curriculum and instruction. (Pellegrino, et.al, 2011)
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There are a multitude of technology tools available to teachers to test their students for both
formative and summative assessments. One tool available to assist teachers with analyzing data
is Curriculum-Based Measurement or CBM. This is used to monitor student learning and
effectiveness of their instructional interventions. Data is collected over time and analyzed to
identify students who are progressing and ready for new instruction as well as those students
who have not yet demonstrated rated mastery and needed additional or revised instruction.
Teachers can use technology to facilitate their implementation of CBM by recording data on
handheld devices and then using Internet sources to create CBM assessment probes and to
record, graph, analyze, and share their CBM data. This will help the teacher assess students
academic progress, and know what areas need to be worked on. The teacher can also then
individualize their lesson plan to help accommodate their students learning needs.
Another technology based tool that can be helpful is socrative; this can be found on Google.
Under this tool, a teacher can make their own formative or summative assessment test for their
students. Teachers can make up their own quizzes, quick question polls, exit tickets and space
races. When your student takes the quiz, it instantly grades and provides the teacher with visible
results to help you identify opportunities for further instruction to their students. The one thing
that is great about this tool is for your younger students, you can test them on their rhyming
skills, sight words, and so much more. Each child is assigned a rocket ship and a certain color;
they then all take the test, and according on their test results will determine how far their rocket
moves. So for younger children this tool can be used more as a fun learning game to help them
learn. In numerous areas of the curriculum, information technologies are changing what is
taught, when and how it is taught, and how students are expected to be able to demonstrate their
knowledge and skills. (Tucker, 2009)
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In todays world everything is slowly moving toward technology. This is a great thing when it
comes to assessment testing and students. Technology is better than the dated paper and pencil
method, simply because with the use of technology you are given instant results on every
students academic progress. As a teacher you can keep track throughout the year of every
childs learning and know where they are academically so you can help ensure all students
academic success. Technology-based classroom assessments focus on the use of technology by
teachers and students to create learning products, promote their technology skills, and examine
students strengths and challenges and the outcome of daily classroom instruction and social
activities. (Salend, 2009)











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References
Pellegrino, J.W., & Quellmalz, E.S. (2011). Perspectives on the Integration of Technology and
Assessment. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 43(2), 119-134.
Salend, S.J. (2009). Technology-Based Classroom Assessments. Teaching Exceptional Children,
41(6), 48-58.
Tucker, B. (2009) The Next Generation of Testing. Educational Leadership, 67(3), 48-53.