PARCC Online

Testing Readiness

Ed Wagner

Director, Infrastructure Services

Technology Landscape

Chicago Public Schools is the third largest school district in the US with over

600 schools serving approximately 400,000 students.

Schools are grouped into management Networks each with approximately 40

schools

Each School has historically controlled their own computer equipment purchases

and inventory management

Diverse types of devices and operating systems

o Over 265,000 devices; 56% Windows, 23% iPads, 15% Chromebooks and 6%

Macs

Initial analysis indicated we were 40% ready for district wide full implementation (3-

11th grade) online testing

Valid inventory information, numbers of devices and bandwidth were the limiting

factors with readiness

Preparation

Focused efforts over the past two years helped ensure we were ready for

testing.

Inventory campaign conducted to validate device counts per school

o 95% of schools were ready for 6-9 grade testing

Focused communications and budget guidance to schools stressing

PARCC Readiness

Bandwidth and ongoing network upgrades

o Minimum of 50Mb/s minimum for all schools

Increased management tool capabilities across all device platforms

Device configuration and software pushes

Engagement of Network Chiefs for school readiness confirmation

User and technical training/webinars

ExecutionOverall, testing went well. We did have challenges but we were able to quickly resolve them through

an established central command center, constant communication with schools, and quick

escalations.

Operations Center

o Central command center to provide operational awareness and track trends

o Staffed by a cross-organizational team (Assessment, School Network Support, IT)

o Dispatch and routing of field staff

Communication

o Frequent updates to schools as new information was available

o Daily huddles with school leadership

Ticket Routing & Escalation

o Users routed to CPS service desk for general questions and network issues, test specific

issues routed to Pearson service desk

o School leadership able to escalate issues directly to the Operations Center

Execution (Continued)

PBA testing window:

6626 service desk calls

76 escalations from Networks

Tickets primarily related to set-up

questions, test question issues,

Java/error pop-up issues, and

local wireless issues

Lessons Learned

This was a good exercise to gauge our readiness for next year.

Need better routing of Pearson escalations, funnel all escalations through

ticketing system

Integration between ticketing systems would be even better

Need to know which machines are used for testing for more focused

deployments

Visual indicator that devices have been updated and are ready

Need a way to better deal with Java popups

Chromebooks were by far the easiest to support

Need short training videos to reduce service desk calls

Proctor caching is your friend

Need quick Strike Team with Pearson and CPS technical staff to address

Unknown, unknowns

Next Steps/Ongoing Challenges

Scaling up to 100% online assessments for SY16

Keeping devices in shape for ongoing testing

Reporting of real time testing information

Consistency of documentation and direction from Pearson support

Building a better relationship with the Pearson support team