A look at RVC Schools' NWEA adaptive assessment test

It started with a question about the “Wizard of Oz.” After reading a small passage where Dorothy’s Auntie Em and Uncle Henry meet the Cowardly Lion, I was asked to identify how the characters’ attitudes changed from the beginning of the passage to the end. At first the two were scared, but then they were happy they had met their niece’s furry feline friend — easy.

But things got harder. By the end of the test, I was answering questions on literary concepts like assonance, identifying synonyms and pointing out true and false statements about scientific terms such as transpiration. An hour and 50 questions later, I was finished and my results were displayed on the screen. At age 27, I was relieved to discover that I knew English.

The test I took was the Northwest Evaluation Association’s adaptive electronic test for the English Language Arts and it serves as one of the Rockville Centre school district’s primary assessments for its students and an alternative to the state’s Common Core grades three through eight standardized tests.

School Superintendent Dr. William Johnson — a prominent figure in the Common Core state testing opt-out movement — has been a proponent of the NWEA adaptive test in recent years and had publicly expressed hope that the state would adopt a similar style test for its purposes. He said he was disappointed, however, when he discovered this year that the state’s electronic tests were simply computerized versions of the pen-and-paper exams.

Adaptive tests change difficulty on the fly according to the number of questions students answer correctly or incorrectly. As students get correct answers, the test becomes harder and Vice Versa.

“It reaches every child at their entry point,” Johnson said of the new format. Additionally, results are provided the next day, as opposed to the months it can take for the district to get state tests results.

He also touted the test’s accuracy over the state tests. “It provides you with a valid score,” he said.

Breaking it down, Johnson said the state tests become less accurate as students fall outside of the median skill level for their grade. Since the state exam is static and set at a single grade level, the test offers little to no metrics for students who are testing above or below it.

The questions are randomized as well “no two students take the same exam,” he said. Meaning it would be impossible for students who took the test earlier to share questions with those who had not yet done so.

Looking forward, Johnson said he still hopes the state will adopt this newer format of testing, but acknowledged it is not an easy task. “To construct this stuff is very complicated,” he said of putting together an adaptive test and scoring system.

But he will continue to advocate for its use because from a practical standpoint: “It’s short, the results are immediate and it’s student and teacher friendly.”