All about AIR: why Ohio made the switch
The issue involving standardized testing reaches beyond high school. Parents and students have expressed concerns about elementary schools giving tests at such a young age. Standardized tests are known to have caused stress and anxiety among students.
After a year of PARCC testing, along with a year of discontent among both student and staff, Ohio has picked the American Institute of Research, otherwise known as AIR, as its Common Core test provider.
On the AIR website, air.org, it states, “AIR’s Item Tracking System (ITS) helps people work together so that students see only fair, clear, and accurate tests.”
During the 2014-2015 school year AIR has delivered 60 million online tests as well as online adaptive tests in more than 24 states. AIR also provides tests with Braille, American Sign Language, and closed captioning.
On the AIR website it states, “Collaborations among mathematicians, content experts and computer scientists yield new ways to assess students’ ability to apply knowledge on computerized tests”
The switch in testing was one most desperately needed. Schools spent large sums of time preparing for the test only to see students perform poorly. State report cards were also delayed in Ohio due to PARCC being slow to send scores.
Hopes are high for a successful switch in testing; however, students are cautious in hopes that this year will not result in a repeat of the PARCC tests.
Sophomore Kiri Wang said, “I hope that the new tests will be a lot better organized and well thought out [than PARCC] last year was very frustrating.”
