Grand test auto: the end of testing.

• Author: Tucker, Bill
• Position: SPECIAL REPORT ON EDUCATION - On standardized testing

In the old days, supermarkets struggled to keep track of the thousands of items on their shelves. Each month, they'd shutter the store so their employees could hand-count every soup can, cereal box, and candy bar. The first electronic scanning systems came along in the 1970s, which helped take a little of the drudgery and inefficiency out of the grocer's life. Then came waves of advances in computing power and remote sensing technologies. By now, for most retailers, regularly shutting down to conduct inventory is a thing of the past. Instead, they can constantly monitor their shelves through bar codes, scanners, and radio-frequency devices. And as it has turned out, all this technology has given them far more than just a better way to count cans: today, retailers not only keep track of what's on their shelves, they also use the constant flow of real-time information to predict, analyze, and respond quickly to consumer demand.

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This kind of real-time assessment and response has become a part of modern life in a number of areas. New car owners increasingly rely on remote sensors, not a yearly mechanic's visit, to detect engine problems and keep tires at the right pressure. And more and more, diabetics no longer have to stop and inject themselves. Instead, they use a continuous glucose monitor to send blood readings to an insulin pump, which warns them if their blood-sugar level spikes and allows them to adjust their level of insulin. In each of these areas, a scientific understanding of systems--whether biological, mechanical, or commercial--has been combined with new technology to develop more useful, productive, and actionable monitoring and measurement. And all of it takes place almost invisibly, in the background.

Not so in America's classrooms. Schools across the nation still essentially close to conduct inventory--only we don't call it that. We call it "testing." Every year at a given time, regular instruction stops. Teachers enter something called "test prep" mode; it lasts for weeks leading up to the big assessment. Just as grocery-store workers might try to fudge inventory numbers to conceal shortfalls in cash, schools sometimes try to fudge their testing results, and cheating scandals erupt. Then, in a twist, regular classroom instruction resumes only halfheartedly once the big test is over, because there are no stakes attached to what everyone's learning. Learning stops, evaluation begins: that's how it works. But in the not-so-distant future, testing may be as much a thing of the past for educators as the counting of cans is for grocers.

Zoran Popovic, a computer scientist and the director of the Center for Game Science at the University of Washington in Seattle, is one of a new cadre of researchers pointing the way to a post-testing world. Popovic has designed a prototype of an online, puzzle-based game called Refractions. The game challenges students to use their knowledge of fractions to help provide the right amount of power to animals in marooned spaceships. Using puzzle pieces, students bend lasers and split the energy beams into half, one-third, and even one-twelfth power. In the process, they get a feel for a number of important concepts, such as equal partitioning, addition, multiplication, and common denominators.

While Refractions looks like a relatively simple game, the real complexity is behind the scenes. The game records hundreds of data points, capturing information each time a player adjusts, redirects, or splits a laser. This data allows Popovic and his colleagues to analyze and visualize students' paths through the puzzles--seeing, for example, whether a student made a beeline for the answer, meandered, or tried a novel approach. Since the data shows not just whether the student solved the puzzle, but also how, it can be used to detect misconceptions or skill gaps. Good math teachers do...