large district fly-in 15 presentation - parcc online testing readiness - ed wagner.pdf
TRANSCRIPT
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PARCC Online
Testing Readiness
Ed Wagner
Director, Infrastructure Services
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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