Problems plague reading assessment

A new reading assessment that school planners hoped would bring innovative tools to teachers brought headaches instead

The results seen with the Florida Assessments for Instruction in Reading test, the first computer-based statewide reading assessment, have proven the test to be a success, no thanks to the many technology setbacks. 

 When Buck Lake Elementary teacher Jonathan Hamilton took his fourth-grade class to the computer lab last month to take the assessment, known as FAIR, the class was turned away when the program wasn't working properly. 

 His class, along with every K-12 student in Florida, needed to complete the test within the 35-day window given by the state but many classes, like Hamilton's, had to reschedule because the site was down. Other students were forced to restart the test when the program froze halfway through, or when it operated slowly. Some teachers even had to administer a written form of the test and skip the computer altogether. 

FAIR is a series of computer-based assessments designed by the Florida Center for Reading Research, for students to take in the fall and again in winter and spring for struggling readers, to help predict how well they will perform on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT). 

 "I don't know how necessary it is because we have lots of ways to figure out reading performance, but it helps to identify who needs that extra help," Hamilton said.

FCRR, an affiliation with Florida State University and a partner of the Florida Department of Education, subcontracted Infinity Software Development of Tallahassee to be sure the program would work properly when distributed to districts.

"The hardware just does not have the capacity that it needs to have," FCRR Director Barbara Foorman said of her frustrations with the system.

Foorman explained that in May, following a year-long pilot program of FAIR, the center was guaranteed that at least 100,000 to 200,000 students could be on the system at the same time.

She said that what they quickly found that the program would slow down with 13,000 users at peak times.

Infinity President Jon Taylor said the "large complex system is being worked on to be sure everything is working successful in December, when schools use it again."

In spite of the technological setbacks, schools have been very happy with the results that have been seen.

"It pinpoints exactly what needs to be worked on," kindergarten teacher Dana Perritt said. "I can definitely see the value in this test."

The data given back to the teacher from the test groups students into a green, yellow or red category, ranging from whether students are on target to score well on the FCAT or are in need of one-on-one instruction.

Barbara Elzie, interim executive director of Just Read, Florida!, a part of Florida DOE, said that she doesn't want the computer problem to overshadow the results.

"I don't want to dwell on why it happened, I just want to fix it and give teachers the tools they deserve," she said.