Laguna students test for upcoming state exams

Fifth-grade teacher Jennifer Chen set aside some time Tuesday morning for a Google Chromebook jam session.

The only sounds inside her El Morro Elementary School classroom were “taps” from students clicking the mouse on the devices, which resemble laptops but do not have internal memory, relying solely on cloud servers.

Children plugged away at math questions in preparation for the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium field tests coming this spring. The consortium is a group of top educators, some from universities, who designed the tests as California and more than 40 other states transition to the new Common Core State Standards.

Students throughout the state will take practice exams in English/language arts and math as part of the new standards, a revamped set of initiatives that place premiums on critical thinking, writing and problem-solving.

Scores will not be reported to the state Department of Education until the 2014-15 school year.

The Laguna Beach Unified School District board approved 72 Chromebooks for each of the four schools at a total cost of $96,000, human resources and communications director Leisa Winston wrote in an email. The Chromebooks will supplement other computers, such as those in school labs, that students may use to take the tests.

Chromebooks have several purposes, including basic word processing, research and collaborative projects using Google Docs, and are compatible with the new online assessment system, Winston said.

Administrators at each school determine which classes use Chromebooks, a decision generally based on teacher readiness, Winston said.

Chen’s class received the computers at the beginning of February and have practiced on them as much as three times a week.

If students ran into problems during the test, they raised their hands for Chen to help. But they will not have that luxury during the real testing, said Darlene Messinger, district assistant superintendent of instructional services.

“It’s definitely scary,” Chen said when asked to describe the difference from the paper-and-pencil exams of previous years. “I think kids adapt very well. It gives teachers a sense of where [the students] are as opposed to a score or a number.”

Students tackled questions that asked them to add a square to a diagram so the perimeter increases and drag numbers into boxes to complete a multiplication problem.

“I’m getting used to the buttons,” said Julian Williams-Goldberg, 11. “Once everyone gets used to this, it will become normal.”

The tests are computer-adaptive, meaning that a student will follow a testing path dictated by his answering ability, Chen said.

Parent Sheri Morgan volunteered in a fourth-grade classroom at Top of the World Elementary and saw a couple of students having trouble using the Chromebooks.

“It went pretty smooth, but students had a hard time with the tracking tab,” Morgan said. “Kids didn’t know where they were supposed to be.”

One Chromebook stopped working and a student needed to use another computer in the classroom, Morgan added in a follow-up email.

“I am sure much of this is just part of the learning curve and with time will be able to be resolved,” Morgan said. “The bigger concern is what if there is a problem with the functionality of the computers during testing and how can the teachers help them if they aren’t allowed to help them with the test.”

A district technology employee will be at each school when students are testing to address any computer problems, Messinger said

Students will be ready when the practice tests roll out beginning next month, she said.

Aside from special-needs students, test takers are on their own during the exams, Messinger said.

“Kids can always go back and input their student number to get back in,” Messinger said.

Staff is training certain teachers from all four district schools on the practice tests, from such details as how to grab and drag an item and how to access the calculator, Messinger said.

“We expect a certain percentage of minor issues, but that is to be expected with any new technology,” Messinger said. “We’ll be on top of it.”