They spend their class time online.

They do their research online.

And now the state’s eighth-graders will take their biggest test online.

The Maine Educational Assessment, the state’s annual standardized test, is going electronic.

In a letter sent to school superintendents this week, Education Commissioner Susan Gendron announced that eighth-graders will use their state-issued Apple laptops to take the exam online this March. Officials hope an electronic test will ultimately prove more efficient, more interactive and less expensive than its pencil-and-paper counterpart.

“There are all kinds of, in the long run, advantages to doing that,” said Brud Maxcy, MEA coordinator for the Maine Department of Education.

Established in 1984, the MEA measures how well students meet Maine’s tough Learning Results standards in reading, writing, math and science and technology.

Although the MEA is given to students in grades four, eight and 11, only eighth-graders will take the electronic version this year. State officials decided to start the online test with the young teenagers since they have used their own personal computers since seventh grade and are familiar with technology.

“The students will have a lot less trouble adjusting to it than the rest of us,” Maxcy said.

The new tests will be encrypted and given to students over a secure connection to prevent tampering or theft. When completed, the tests will be automatically sent to the testing center for scoring.

Pilot schools will try the new online test in November and December. Practice tests will be available in January.

Like the traditional MEAs, the electronic test will formally be given to students in March.

Maxcy said the test format will not change during this first year. But officials hope the exam will eventually become personalized and interactive – presenting students with animated diagrams instead of static, two-dimensional pictures, for example.

“I’m certainly really excited about it,” Macxy said. “I think schools are really going to like it.”

The head of Philip W. Sugg Middle School in Lisbon Falls agreed.

“I think it’s great,” said Principal Virginia Rebar. “We’re suited up, so to speak.”

She’s seen many students grow frustrated with the pencil-and-paper tests. A computer exam, she said, will encourage them to write and revise more and will allow them to more easily show what they know.

“They’ll still have to know what to do,” she said.

The online test will cost about $1 million to start up, including the charges to administer it.

Maxcy said the new test should save the state money on shipping, handling and other costs in the long run. The state could save several hundred thousand dollars on shipping and test preparation alone, Maxcy said.

“There’s a lot of labor involved in the (traditional) process,” he said.

It will likely be years before students in grades four and 11 begin taking the electronic version.

ltice@sunjournal.com

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