TestHound Success Story: Managing Assessments Across the State of Texas
Harmony Public Schools is a system of public charter schools spread across Texas from Houston to El Paso. With hundreds of miles between locations, former Director of Assessment Adelle Hice needed a solution to close the distance between her office and test coordination at each school. TestHound provided an accurate and efficient test coordination process to allow Hice and her staff to keep their focus on providing a high-quality education to Harmony’s 34,000 students.
The Challenge
Unlike conventional school districts, Harmony Public Schools has 58 locations across the state of Texas. "We aren’t like traditional districts where I can just pop over and see how things are going," said Hice. "Harmony needed a product that would provide a consistent and accurate way to manage assessments, and I needed to be able to monitor everything from hundreds of miles away." Hice also sought a system to prevent testing irregularities, an area of focus identified by an audit of Harmony’s special programs. "Our data clearly showed that this was an area of concern,” she said. “TestHound provided a solution to the problem and ensured our success moving forward."
"Harmony needed a product that would provide a consistent and accurate way to manage assessments, and I needed to be able to monitor everything from hundreds of miles away."
The Solution
TestHound’s fully web-based platform provided Harmony with a central location for processes, allowing Hice to manage and control all aspects of the testing experience from any location with an internet connection. Additionally, TestHound’s integration with Harmony’s special education program automatically generated master accommodations reports to ensure proper testing accommodations for each student. "TestHound’s AutoPilot feature is worth its weight in gold," said Hice. "Being able to see our student supports from every single system and know that it is 100% accurate has been the most powerful feature."
"Being able to see our student supports from every single system and know that it is 100% accurate has been the most powerful feature."
The Results
Although Harmony did not administer state assessments last year because of statewide COVID exemptions, Hice said TestHound would have prevented hundreds of potential testing irregularities due to unallowable accommodations. "We believe that our students come first, and we always want to be in compliance, so having these checks and balances in place is invaluable," Hice said. "TestHound ensures we are administering the right tests to the right students and has given us a clear vision, statewide and instantaneously, of where our kids are and what they need to be."
"We believe that our students come first, and we always want to be in compliance, so having these checks and balances in place is invaluable."
>>> Read how TestHound helped Lubbock ISD reduce testing irregularities by 77%.
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.
