TestHound Success Story: Improving the Student Testing Experience Through Consistency and Efficiency
Since 1944, Brazosport ISD has built a culture of educational excellence across 200 miles and eight municipalities. Today, the district serves over 12,000 students across seventeen campuses and remains committed to providing the best educational experience for its students. Thanks to TestHound, Director of Assessment Randy Wuensche says he can also ensure Brazosport ISD’s students have the best and most authentic testing experience possible.
The Challenge
In 2015, education leaders in Brazosport ISD began searching for a better solution for tracking testing inventory to increase efficiency, improve processes, and reduce human errors. Like many districts, campus testing coordinators at each individual school developed their own systems for inventory control, which led to inconsistencies and inefficiencies. "It was a lot of paper – signature pages, handwritten data tracking, and state-provided materials control forms," said Wuensche. "Problems arose when someone miscounted or missed a booklet and then we basically had to rely on the school to tell us where they thought the booklet might be."
"Problems arose when someone miscounted or missed a booklet and then we basically had to rely on the school to tell us where they thought the booklet might be."
Having addressed concerns with the state testing vendor regarding missing testing materials in the past, Wuensche said he immediately recognized the impact TestHound could have on how Brazosport ISD tracked inventory. "Testing materials are the most critical security elements in the testing process," Wuensche said. "Our primary concern was making sure we had an inventory control system that could track a booklet anywhere in the district."
The Solution
TestHound’s ability to automatically generate state-mandated documentation such as materials control forms, room rosters, labels for test booklets, master schedules, and attendance forms proved to be the perfect solution for Wuensche and Brazosport ISD. TestHound allowed testing coordinators to quickly scan testing materials into a secure, searchable database for real-time tracking and error-free materials control. "TestHound helped us centralize our materials tracking system into a seamless, error-free process," Wuensche said. "The more layered our procedures are, the more likely we are to avoid mistakes."
"TestHound helped us centralize our materials tracking system into a seamless, error-free process."
AutoPilot, which integrated with the district’s student information system, Special Education and English Language Learner programs, also proved to be invaluable. AutoPilot automatically generated multiple accommodations reports so Brazosport ISD could ensure each student received proper testing accommodations. "The fact that AutoPilot linked up with our other district systems brought a deeper focus on our other vendors to make sure that the data being entered there was accurate," Wuensche shared. "It gave us another control check to make sure everything was coming across accurately."
The Results
Since implementing TestHound, Wuensche said the district’s inventory incidents are practically nonexistent. "Even in the rare case of a human error, we can quickly go into TestHound to locate testing materials immediately," he said. "Before TestHound, our state testing vendor would call with an inquiry and we would scramble to locate it. Now, I can say, ‘It was in this box, here's the ID number of the box, and it was scanned in on this date at this time.’ We can literally find any booklet among 10,000 booklets in a matter of seconds."
Wuensche also said incidents with incorrect student testing accommodations have been significantly reduced thanks to AutoPilot. "It's not just about booklets anymore - it’s really about the student testing experience," he said. "What TestHound enables us to do is to make sure we're giving our students the best and most authentic testing experience possible. In my experience, that's worth every penny."
"What TestHound enables us to do is to make sure we're giving our students the best and most authentic testing experience possible. In my experience, that's worth every penny."
The Product
TestHound is a comprehensive assessment scheduling and resource management tool and the only test enablement solution that integrates data from disparate systems into a single platform to efficiently coordinate and schedule students and staff. By utilizing the efficiencies provided through the platform, tasks that can 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 assessments, allowing them to spend their valuable time on other priorities.
