TestHound Customer Success Story: Streamlining Processes and Reducing Stress
When Britani Stanley graduated from Okeechobee High School, she never imagined she would return to the Okeechobee County School District as a staff member. In 2012, Stanley began her career in Okeechobee schools as a teacher and then moved into an instructional coaching position before landing as the district’s coordinator of accountability and assessment in 2018. After one testing season of manually processing all the documentation required for state-mandated assessments, she went on the hunt for a better solution.
The Challenge
Stanley began her role as test coordinator for the Okeechobee County School District in October 2018 – right in the throes of testing season. She quickly realized that keeping up with frequent changes in the testing world while juggling other various job responsibilities was no easy task. “We wear multiple hats – I am not solely focused on assessment,” she said. “It was difficult to focus on my testing responsibilities while also handling the other obligations of my job throughout the year.”
“We wear multiple hats – I am not solely focused on assessment.”
Stanley also discovered that there was not a consistent approach to test coordination at each of the district’s schools. “Everyone was doing it slightly different, which led to challenges – especially when a test coordinator left the district,” she said. “We really needed a way to get everyone on the same page and establish uniform processes and practices across the district.”
“We really needed a way to get everyone on the same page and establish uniform processes and practices across the district.”
Having survived one testing season coordinating student assessments manually, Stanley reached out to an assessment coordinator in a nearby district, a contact she made through the Florida Association of Testing and Accountability (FATA). “She told me they were piloting TestHound that school year and described how it simplified the test coordination process,” Stanley recalled. At the next FATA meeting, Stanley saw a demo of the product and immediately recognized the benefits. “During testing season, it was a constant struggle to get to all my schools, monitor testing, and maintain consistent communication. I saw that TestHound would help me streamline my processes and ensure every school had the information and support they needed.”
"I saw that TestHound would help me streamline my processes and ensure every school had the information and support they needed.”
The Solution
To investigate the product and ensure buy-in, the district gathered a focus group made up of test coordinators from the elementary, middle, and high school levels. “We wanted to get input from the people who would actually be using TestHound,” said Stanley. “After the demo, every person at the table overwhelmingly agreed that TestHound would be beneficial in supporting our testing processes.”
“After the demo, every person at the table overwhelmingly agreed that TestHound would be beneficial in supporting our testing processes.”
Stanley said the materials tracking and inventory control was a major selling point of TestHound, especially with constant concerns surrounding test security. “A huge benefit was the ability to easily track paper materials, especially since Florida returned to paper-based testing,” said Stanley. With TestHound, Stanley was able to quickly scan testing materials into a secure, searchable database for real-time tracking and error-free materials control. “After manually checking in each test booklet, I knew there had to be a better way. Now I just scan the book and place it in the box – it takes so much less time and I know where everything is at any moment,” she said.
TestHound’s automatically generated student accommodations reports also ensures each student in Okeechobee schools receives proper testing accommodations. “This is a major benefit to our students,” said Stanley. “Because TestHound integrates with our Special Education and English Language Learner programs, we can make sure every student gets the test accommodations they require.”
“Because TestHound integrates with our Special Education and English Language Learner programs, we can make sure every student gets the test accommodations they require.”
TestHound’s Multi-Session Scheduling (MSS) also solved another challenge – the ability to assign test monitors and schedule students into tests across multiple days and sessions. “This has been especially helpful for students who require extended time for testing,” Stanley said. “MSS really gave us more flexibility to structure our testing groups and testing windows.”
The Results
Stanley says TestHound significantly reduced the amount of stress on the district’s test coordinators. "Our test coordinators are not just test coordinators, they have multiple roles and responsibilities at their schools,” she said. “TestHound reduced the amount of time they have to spend preparing for testing so they can focus on the more important task of serving students.”
“TestHound reduced the amount of time they have to spend preparing for testing so they can focus on the more important task of serving students.”
TestHound also empowered Stanley with more oversight so she can provide better support to the test coordinators across the district. “Previously, I couldn’t see all of their documentation because they created things like rosters manually. This made it hard to know exactly what was happening and help them troubleshoot,” she said. “TestHound allows me to have more visibility, be more involved, and better monitor and support the testing process.”
“TestHound allows me to have more visibility, be more involved, and better monitor and support the testing process.”
“I haven’t seen another product or platform that can do what TestHound can do,” Stanley said. “From the very beginning – fair pricing and smooth implementation – to the continued support and constant product enhancements we enjoy today, TestHound exceeds our expectations in every way.”
The Product
TestHound is a comprehensive K-12 testing software and the only test enablement solution that integrates data from disparate systems into a single platform for efficient assessment coordination. During the 2019 school year, more than 325 districts used TestHound to schedule 3.5 million students for 225 state-mandated assessments and processed roughly 7.3 million student accommodations across various special programs. By utilizing the efficiencies provided through the platform, tasks that could take several days to accomplish using alternative methods can be done within a matter of hours. TestHound empowers overextended school staff to efficiently and accurately coordinate K-12 assessments, allowing them to spend their valuable time on other priorities.
