Evaluation of an Online Tool for Assessing Competence in Achievement Testing

• Published in: Teacher education and special education Vol. 30; no. 3; pp. 142 - 154
• Main Authors: Forbush, David E., Stenhoff, Donald M., Vasquez, Eleazor, Furzland, Mathew, Alexander, Melina, Stein, Jared
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01-07-2007; Teacher Education Division of the Council for Exceptional Children; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Achievement; Achievement Tests; College Faculty; Competence; Computer Software Evaluation; Distance Education; Instructional Development; Instructional Material Evaluation; Matched Groups; Minimum Competency Testing; Preservice training; Special Education; Special Education Teachers; Teachers; Teleconferencing; Undergraduate Students; Utah; Utah
• ISSN: 0888-4064; 1944-4931
• DOI: 10.1177/088840640703000303

Special education teacher preparation programs typically require training in delivery of standardized achievement assessments. Appropriate administration of standardized assessments in eligibility and instructional planning process are critical. To insure production of valid assessments, pre-service teachers at Utah State University must deliver a valid checkout assessment directly to course instructors. On-campus, this process is accomplished with ease. However, when the course is offered at a distance, cost of checkouts is substantially greater. To reduce costs, checkouts were conducted over a teleconferencing system using an online support tool. In this article, authors describe online checkout procedures and an initial evaluation of the online tool to facilitate valid assessments of pre-service special education teachers' achievement test delivery skills over a distance delivery system.