Respondents to this Online Testing Readiness Survey are encouraged to read the entire survey
before entering answers. It is strongly recommended that you partner with other functional
representatives – e.g., technology or assessment departments – from within your state
department of education in order answer these questions.
State-level Questions
Getting Started:
1. Who is completing the survey for this state? Please check all that apply.
[ ] state technology director
[ ] state testing director
[ ] state legislative aide
[ ] state policy advisor
[ ] other: __________________
2. Has this state previously participated in online or computer-based delivery of statewide
assessments?
( ) No
( ) Yes
3. For the the 20[nn]–20[nn] school year, what estimated percentage of the total student
population testing within this state was involved with online or computer-based delivery of
statewide assessments? (For this question, please only include students who would
have been eligible – by grade or other factor – for statewide assessments.)
( ) 0% (no students participated in online testing last year)
( ) 1-25%
( ) 26-50%
( ) 51-75%
( ) 76-97%
( ) 98-100% (almost every eligible student participated in online testing last year)
4. What is this state’s approximate student population? ____________
5. What is this state’s approximate number of students who are or would be eligible for
statewide testing in the 20[nn]–20[nn] school year? ____________
6. What statement best describes your state's involvement in the Race to the Top (RTT)
assessment consortia activities?
( ) This state is a member of the PARCC consortium.
( ) This state is a member of the SMARTER Balanced consortium (SBAC).
( ) This state is a member of both the PARCC and SBAC consortia.
( ) This state is a member of neither the PARCC and SBAC consortia.
Assessment-Driven Aspects of Online Testing Readiness:
(The following questions may be best answered by a state assessment director.)
7. Does your state have a detailed assessment-design roadmap, that specifies needs or
plans for content and item types, performance- or skills-based assessments, and other
requirements that may factor into online assessment delivery?
( ) No
( ) Yes
Sample State-Level Online Testing Readiness Survey
Page 1
8. Has your state established what number of assessment windows, including windows for
retesting, will be needed, and how long the windows may need to be open in order to
accommodate district/local infrastructures?
( ) No
( ) Yes
9. Do your statewide assessments have time limits, or other constraints that would allow
districts and schools to schedule multiple testing sessions within a single day, in order to
leverage limited computers among a greater number of students?
( ) No
( ) Yes
10. Has your state created a transition strategy and plan for moving from paper-and-pencil
testing to online testing?
( ) No
( ) Yes
11. Is your state planning to transition to online testing over multiple years, or otherwise
introduce statewide online assessment through a series of phases?
( ) No
( ) Yes
12. Does your state have a communication and training plan for online testing, and does it
include components to address both assessment staff and their needs, as well as
technology staff and their needs?
( ) No
( ) Yes
Technology-Driven Aspects of Online Testing Readiness:
(The following questions may be best answered by a state technology director.)
13. Has your state conducted a detailed technology infrastructure survey of districts and
schools that would need to participate in statewide online testing?
( ) No
( ) Yes
14. Does your state know, based on current local infrastructure, approximately what percent
of students statewide could take an online assessment within a 1-week testing window?
( ) No
( ) Yes
15. Does your state know, based on current local infrastructure, how long the online testing
window might need to be to test all students using computers?
( ) No
( ) Yes
16. Has your state created a plan or set of requirements to govern local bandwidth needs
and policies, such as use of proxy/caching solutions or the use of bandwidth limiting
technologies to keep connection pathways free during test administration?
( ) No
( ) Yes
17. Has your state created a plan or set of requirements to govern state and district needs
regarding the interoperability of test items and student/teacher performance data?
( ) No
( ) Yes
Sample State-Level Online Testing Readiness Survey
Page 2
18. Does your state have a forum or other communication vehicle to promote technical
knowledge sharing among and between districts, and are there plans for this forum to be
used in conjunction with online assessment technology issues?
( ) No
( ) Yes
19. Has anyone from your state participated in or helped to drive the creation of national
interoperability assessment standards?
( ) No
( ) Yes
20. Does your state currently have a mechanism – such as through regular technology
surveys – to maintain a detailed understanding of technology infrastructure at the local
level, even as technologies (eg, desktops, laptops, tablets) and network infrastructures
(eg, local vs. cloud-based solutions; bandwidth needs; etc.) continue to change over
time?
( ) No
( ) Yes
Sample State-Level Online Testing Readiness Survey
Page 3