Introducing Disco, a testing revolution

Disco is a new kind of online assessment system for classroom use. It is made up of a number of integrated activities and elements. The figure below shows many of these in the form of a flow diagram. These activities and elements are discussed further under the tab, "How does it work?"

Disco takes testing to a new level.

1. DiscoTests are delivered online (currently for grades 7+).

2. Disco automates many aspects of grading and reporting.

3. Teachers' understanding of student development grows with ongoing exposure to DiscoTests, enhancing their ability to support student learning.

4. Because all DiscoTests require students to show how they are thinking by writing a series of short essays, they directly conribute to improvements in writing and reasoning.

5. When students score their own DiscoTests, they learn even more. The immediate feedback offered by the items in the coding rubric reminds students of concepts and ideas they learned in class and provides an emotional "woops" that aids memory. Over time, self-scoring—especialy if teachers encourage students to reflect upon their own patterns of performance—can provide students with deep insights into their own developental trajectories.

6. Disco automatically produces detailed reports for teachers, parents, and students.

7. Disco reports reward student learning by showing students what they have learned and what they can benefit from learning next.

8. Disco can deliver coded cross-sectional and longitudinal data to educational researchers, adding to our understanding of student learning.

Who can take DiscoTests?

DiscoTests are intended for (1) middle and high school students who (2) have easy access to a computer that is connected to the internet and (3) are capable of providing written explanations of their reasoning that accurately reflect their level of understanding.

Please participate

Before we can offer a new DiscoTest, we work with our research partners to study the way students learn a particular concept or skill over time. We add new DiscoTests to this site as soon as this research has been completed and each test's reliability and validity have been verified. Once DiscoTests are in use, their performance is regularly evaluated and adjustments are made to items, rubrics, and algorithms as necessary.

Not only does this research cost money, it requires the participation of teachers and their students. If you are interested in helping us design DiscoTests by participating in research, contact one of our research partners.

How DiscoTests work

Tests and scoring interfaces are very easy to navigate, requiring no special computer skills.

DiscoTests always have an essay section and sometimes have a multiple choice or survey section.

Student performances are evaluated in two ways:

• Multiple choice or survey questions are auto-scored with a key.

• Essays are coded by teachers (or students), who make selections from drop-down menus. Menu choices are based on research into the ways students actually learn particular concepts and skills.

As teachers code the essays written by students, they can make suggestions for new codes. These are examined by researchers and domain experts (including classroom teachers) and may be included in future drop down lists.

In the coding interface, teachers can add personal comments for the individual student or for personal use.

Disco automatically produces customizable reports for students, parents, and teachers, containing detailed information about student performance, including what students show they have learned (content knowledge), the level at which students understand what has been learned (developmental level), details about what this means, and recommendations for learning. Reports may also include a personal lectigraph™ portraying a student's developmental progress (in a given subject area) over time.