TestHound Success Story: Streamlined Testing Through Every Stage

The Challenge

Prior to 2008, Barthelemess worked as a CTC, responsible for testing through manual processes. “There was a time where we had about 15 exams in one year,” she said. “It was my job on the high school campus to manage all of that and it was a lot of spreadsheets — Excel was everything. Every step was tedious.”

As the workload continued to increase, adjustments and last-minute changes became a major struggle for CTCs who needed to manage all communication, paperwork, accommodations, and resources.

“If there was a last-minute change and specialized accommodations were needed, that would mean we needed to change the roster, the sign-out forms, the accommodations — maybe even the test booklet, since we were using paper then,” said Barthelemess.

“There were so many potential areas for human error in this manual process where you could miss one spot and it would cause complete confusion on test day. It was a domino effect.”

The Solution

With TestHound, these possible mistakes could be completely circumvented.

“All of that information is now integrated within TestHound. You make one change and the entire report will reflect it automatically,” explained Barthelemess.

Although Barthelemess wasn’t looking for a solution at the time, she serendipitously became one of the earliest adopters of TestHound in 2008.

“I was at an assessment conference and attended a session with TestHound before it was even called that,” she said. “I’m not even sure there were flash drives, so I was given a disk with the tool. I went back to my technology department and begged them to give me access to a database so I could use it.”

Although hesitant, the district testing coordinator was ultimately swayed by Barthelemess’s praises of TestHound and its effectiveness as a test enablement tool.

“She hadn’t been in the session, so she was unsure,” explained Barthelemess. “But I just wasn’t going to let it go! I pushed until we could use it and it changed everything. Since then, I’ve been using it through every update and change.”

As a CTC in the front line of the manual workload previously needed for assessments, Barthelemess saw the opportunity that TestHound could bring for staff and students. Instead of spending hours tracking down changes, manipulating documents, and double-checking every little detail, TestHound provided each user with improved processes and — most importantly — confidence in the information.

“With TestHound, we have all the documentation we need, conveniently in one platform,” she said. “It’s mentally draining to spend all of this time updating Excel sheets when you could be spending time focused on helping students. TestHound is an organized and accurate system that relieves unnecessary pressures because this is a high-stakes responsibility to carry.”

The Results

With TestHound, each testing coordinator can keep track of student accommodations, student testing history, and more to improve efficiencies and reduce testing irregularities. For state-mandated documentation, the tool automatically generates necessary materials, including room rosters, labels for test booklets, master schedules, and more, which improves the overall learning experience.

“As a director, I now manage the budget and I put TestHound at the top of my list every year,” said Barthelemess. “I make sure we have the funds for this because it makes so much of a difference.”

She also emphasized the value of TestHound’s customer service and continual improvements to the platform.

“It’s grown leaps and bounds and I’ve been able to see that,” she said. “You know that they’re listening to our feedback and you see the improvements happening. They also hire a lot of educators who know our struggles, and it shows.”

Barthelemess was sold on TestHound’s capabilities the moment she began using them. “I tell my colleagues that I’m TestHound’s biggest fan. It’s a game-changer for anyone who deals with assessments and their management.”

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.