[K12OSN] State Testing

[Ken Grant]

Hi:

	Thanks for all your wonderful responses!  It is good to know, in a
bizzare sort of way, that other states have tried and failed at
implementing testing in this way.
	
	I'm going to talk to anyone I can at Harcourt and the state to make
sure that all platforms are considered when implementing this type of
testing.

	Bandwidth issues were mentioned and the public schools in Wyoming are
having a devil of a time with this issue.  The whole thing has been
poorly thought out and implemented.  

Cheers,
Ken

On Sun, 26 Feb 2006 11:45:23 -0700
Ken Grant <kmgrant at actaccess.net> wrote:

> Hello All:
> 
> 	This may or may not be the best place to address this issue, but
I
> figure there are enough tech/educational experts here that someone is
> bound to have encountered it.
> 	
> 	My problem: Our state, Wyoming, is converting all standardized
testing
> for compliance with the "No Child Left Behind" law to computers. 
> Starting in about six weeks, children in grades 3-8, and grade 11,
will
> be taking our state test online.  The test is designed by the state
but
> admisistered through Harcourt Assessment.  To ensure that students do
> not have access to other parts of the computer they are working on,
all
> testing must be done with a "secure browser." To get the browser to
> be secure a program called SiteKiosk is used. And you guessed
> it, it only runs on Windows and sometimes Macs.
> 
> 	At this point the state is still dealing with many tech issues,
> including getting SiteKiosk to run on Macs.  I've been assured by
> people at the state level and at Harcourt Assessment that no testing
has
> been done with Linux.  Since K12LTSP is being used by school districts
> across the nation, this seems to me to be a terrible oversight.
> 
> 	I realize that the bigger school districts have the funding for
Windows
> systems; however, we are a small Catholic school with very little
> resources to invest in IT.  K12LTSP is the only way we can get
computers
> in the classroom.  
> 
> 	All that said, have any of you been faced with a similar issue? 
If
> so, how have you dealt with it?  How many schools with K12LTSP are
using
> it as their only platform?
> 
> 	I plan to make as much noise as possible with both the state and
with
> Harcourt so that this situation can be corrected, but in the meantime
> any ideas on how to get SiteKiosk to run on Linux would be great. 
Does
> anyone know if a Linux-based program exsists to make a  browser
secure?
> 
> 	Thanks for reading my rant and for K12LTSP...it's an awesome OS!
> 
> Cheers,
> Ken
> 
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