No Child Left Behind Assessment Testing Logistics System

The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act sets out several requirements for assessing and reporting on student performance and pressures states to comply with previous mandates.

Beginning in 2005-06, states will be required to test all students annually in grades 3-8 in mathematics and reading or language arts. States also must comply with the 1994 requirement for testing students at least once annually in mathematics and reading/language arts at grade levels 10-12. In addition, science assessments must be developed and put into place by the 2007-08 school year and administered not less than one time during grades 3-5, 6-9 and 10-12. States' annual assessments must be aligned to state standards and include the participation of all students, including most students with disabilities and limited English proficiency. Test results must include individual student scores and be reported by race, income and other categories to measure not just overall trends, but also gaps among, and progress of, various subgroups of students. Results of math and reading assessments will be the primary indicators of whether schools and districts have made adequate yearly progress. As a result of the NCLB, schools and administrations have been required to conduct on-going testing for compliance with the defined standards. The administration of these assessment tests has placed a manpower and financial burden on state and local boards of education.

In 2005, Sidus Group, LLC, partnered with a subject area expert, and created an  effective method by which the State of Maryland can deploy the use of handheld scanners, customized software, secure hosting, and a robust training systems for test booklet logistics management. The proposed solution was field tested and evaluated for a three year period. During this evaluation pilot program, 362 schools participated and over 560,000 test booklets were successfully processed.

In December of 2008, Sidus was awarded a $4.3 million contract (five years) to deploy this system state-wide in Maryland. This system has been an overwhelming success, saving Maryland millions of dollars in manpower cost and has allowed Maryland to have instant compliance in the logistical support of all assessment test material.

Annual savings (in manpower costs alone) for the State of Maryland will be in excess of  $1 per test booklet issued. This equates to over $2 million in net savings per school year. The other major benefit of this program is the dramatically increased accountability for all parties.  The State Board of Education, the Local Accountability Coordinators and the School Administrators have an accurate and timely method to ensure that all test booklets are accounted for at all stages of an assessment administration.  This has proven to be a benefit to the State Department of Education in their contractual relationships with the test providers, such as Pierson and others. With the utilization of this system, it is much more difficult for a test administration to be compromised.

Sidus brings the software capability, physical infrastructure, program management and training, and ongoing support that have made this investment by the State of Maryland a tremendous success. Sidus’ experience is unique in this area and can bring this accountability and cost savings to other education departments in a quick and effective system.