Our Opinion: Technology Woes Unfortunate Reality For State Testing

Many students across Northeast Mississippi will sit down at a computer this week and go through the process of completing the required Mississippi Assessment Program for English and math subjects. The test not only will be used to determine how well that student has mastered the subject matter, it also will impact the way his or her school and district are graded by the state department of education. The general process of state testing has been used in Mississippi and across the country for some time, although the standards covered by state tests have shifted over the years. But one important part of that testing process changed for the first time last year in Mississippi, and it brought about significant challenges for many districts across the state. Last year, the state test was administered completely online for the first time. This required districts to not only have enough computers and equipment for all the students that were testing, but also to have the network infrastructure to make sure those machines could connect to the internet and complete the test. The Lee County School District, for example, did not have enough devices to minimize the time students spent testing during the 2016-17 school year, according to superintendent Jimmy Weeks. Since then, the district has purchased several hundred more devices, but still not enough that everyone can test at the same time, according to Daily Journal education reporter Emma Crawford Kent. However, each grade will be able to take the same section at the same time this year, which condenses the amount of time spent testing. The more days spent testing, Weeks said, the harder it is for students to focus. Since last spring, the Houston School District has added wireless access points in every classroom at Houston Middle and Upper Elementary schools. Last year, the district’s wireless network did not have the capacity to test as many students simultaneously as it needed, so some students were kicked off the wireless network mid-test and had to start over. As beneficial as technology can be in the classroom to help teachers show students more of the world around them than ever before, it also brings significant challenges in terms of having up-to-date equipment and a network infrastructure that’s able to keep up with hundreds of students. And those challenges are likely going to be felt more and more across the state if funding for these technology initiatives decreases. We hope more funding becomes readily available for districts across our state to continue making technology and infrastructure upgrades. Students have enough to focus on when it comes to state testing with the subject matter alone.