The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was signed into law January 8, 2002. It is the latest revision of the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and is regarded as the most significant federal education policy initiative in a generation. The overall purpose of the law is to ensure that each child in America is able to meet the high learning standards of the state where he or she lives.

Achievement Builders Corporation (ABC), a computer-based learning company that serves children in grades three through ten, saw the need for students to prepare for standardized tests that are being administered to verify student proficiency in core subjects.

ABC used Questionmark Perception to develop "Practice Makes Perfect," a web-based assessment program that addresses the fundamental learning areas of reading, mathematics, social science and science. Timed tests hosted by Questionmark and linked to ABC’s website use items from previous Illinois State Standards Sample Tests for third, fourth, fifth, seventh, eighth and tenth-grade students. The tests are correlated to the State Standards and give a complete picture of how students are performing according to those standards.

Students take the tests in many different areas at school. When grouped, they can access the tests in a learning lab with a computer for each child. Individually and in small groups, students can also access them at computers in classrooms. ABC is also working with home-schooling associations to enable students to take the assessments within their own homes.

The company has developed similar assessments for students in other states including Michigan. State assessments in Michigan are also mandated in all public schools at different “benchmark” grade levels. As in Illinois, ABC links each question for Michigan students with particular state core standards.

Once students take the tests, Perception generates comprehensive reports that ABC uses to pinpoint learning deficits.

“The Perception report generator gives me a tremendous amount of information,” says Dr. Joseph Pedersen, founder and president of Achievement Builders. “That information helps me present an organized curriculum audit. Once I can identify the problem, I know what to do. Questionmark can pinpoint a measurement issue, for example, and I can then give the teacher the appropriate direction.

“The reports I use the most are the score list, item analysis and coaching reports. They are particularly useful in this application. The one I like the best is item analysis. It gives me a chart that tells me what percentage of students chose a particular answer. This helps me see where the learning problem lies. For example, I might see that the student understands the basic idea but is falling down when it comes to working a problem through to completion. This kind of information gets channeled into strategic curriculum development.”

Pedersen asked Questionmark partner Enginet Technologies to affiliate every question on each test with one or more state standards. Students receive raw scores, while teachers receive the scores as well as Perception reports that correlate the students’ performance to the standards. ABC uses the test results to help teachers identify learning deficits and tailor their curriculum to address them.

“Using Perception, we can give teachers comprehensive reports just a day after each test is taken,” explains Pedersen. “We can then help the teachers develop curriculum that will help them address the problem areas that have been revealed by the Perception reports. Three weeks later we give them the same kind of test again, and we can see the comparative reports from the first to the second test. We are seeing a tremendous amount of improvement in the deficit areas.

A registration process sets the security level for anyone who has access to the Perception reports. Schools principals can see reports for every classroom and student; superintendents can see results at the school, classroom and individual level; and teachers can view the results just of his or her own pupils.

Dr. Pedersen says that the ease of registering students and making reports available within a day of each test are key to his business.

“Questionmark allows me to register large groups of students within a short amount of time. This affords a large school district the opportunity to begin testing without having to wait for clerical input of student names. “The sooner students can begin the testing program, the more chance they have of practicing before state testing,” Pedersen comments. Even better is Perception’s ability to create powerful reports quickly. Standardized achievement tests and state tests can take up to seven months to get back, and by that time students are possibly at the next grade level. My goal is to give a diagnostic report to teachers, administrators and parents just a day after each test. By having this report the next day, teachers can immediately address student deficits and create student improvement plans instead of just school improvement plans.

“We have a great deal of data from our pilot school in Manhattan, Illinois. By taking this test 4 to 5 times prior to the state testing, students are showing significant improvement within their deficit areas. This practice has allowed students, educators and parents to identify areas that need attention and address them before state testing takes place.”

Anyone can try out the Practice Makes Perfect tests by visiting
http://www.abctests.com/take the test!.htm