Illinois Board of Education Meets With Broadband Illinois on Standardized Testing
Nathan Woodside
Published: January 18, 2013
Representatives from Broadband Illinois met with top officials from the State Board of Education on Thursday to discuss statewide connectivity issues in public schools.
A form of standardized testing in Illinois schools is slated to move online in the 2014-15 school year. The program, dubbed the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC), is a consortium of 23 states working together to develop a common set of K-12 assessments in English and math aimed at preparing students for college classes.
According to data collected by the State Board of Education, personnel at only 39 percent of Illinois' 4,400 public school buildings believe they are equipped with the broadband infrastructure to handle the recommended bandwidth for the PARCC testing.
School officials say that the data collected was self-reported by various school employees and not the result of a scientifically conducted study.
During Thursday's meeting, Broadband Illinois representatives said the nonprofit organization could develop detailed mapping of what Illinois schools are supplied with underperforming Internet connections, and communicate with suppliers in those area to improve service.
“Broadband Illinois' role in this collaboration will allow us to utilize the tools and knowledge we have in the field of broadband to address a need for the Department of Education to fulfill their mission and then help enable students for online learning where they didn't have the opportunity before,” said Broadband Illinois eTeam director Brad Housewright.
State superintendent Dr. Christopher Koch, who attended Thursday’s meeting, said transferring paper testing to an online format would save schools between $3 and $3.50 per student. He said it’s a priority to get all schools access to Internet bandwidths adequate for the standardized testing, and that could lead to better service opportunities in areas surrounding schools.
The Illinois State Board of Education and Broadband Illinois representatives plan to begin meeting regularly to map bandwidth usage in schools statewide and work to improve service in facilities that fall short of PARCC recommendations.
Broadband Illinois is a nonprofit organization based in Springfield operating on a three-fold mission to collect and publish broadband data, ensure broadband access throughout the state and maximize broadband's impact.