Lexmark in Education: Schools drive savings and student ...media.lexmark.com/www/doc/...Testing_and_Grading-K12-White-Pape… · leading school districts are using Lexmark Testing

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031 Lexmark, Lexmark with diamond design are trademarks or registered trademarks of Lexmark International, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the United States and/or other countries.

Other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. © 2013 Lexmark International, Inc. All rights reserved.

Lexmark in Education: Schools drive savingsand student achievement with innovative testing and grading solutionTechnical White Paper

This document is to be considered an informational white paper.

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Lexmark, Lexmark with diamond design are trademarks or registered trademarks of Lexmark International, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the United States and/or other countries. Other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.© 2013 Lexmark International, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Table of Contents

Introduction …..……..……..……..… ................................................................................................. page 3

Smarter spending ..……..……..… ................................................................................................. page 4

Intelligent move …..……..……..… ................................................................................................. page 5

The solution in action…..……..… ................................................................................................. page 6

Broad-based benefi ts…..……..… ................................................................................................. page 7

Driving cost avoidance and savings ....................................................................................... page 8

Faster testing and grading ..… ................................................................................................. page 8

Boosting achievement ..……..… ................................................................................................. page 9

Curbing consumption…..……..… ................................................................................................. page 10

Making the grade ..……..……..… ................................................................................................. page 11

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School systems across the U.S. are caught in a dilemma. Tighter budgets are forcing schoolsto reduce costs even as they embark on ambitious plans to boost the quality of their education. Meanwhile, federal monies can no longer be counted on to cover the shortfall. It is a time when educators and school officials agree that cuts are unavoidable, but to do it right, they must mastera tough balancing act between their unwavering commitment to education and their inescapable fiscal realities.

Adding to the pressure is another reality – namely, the rising cost of education. In the last fiveyears, per-student costs have risen 10% to nearly $10,000 per student per year, according tothe U.S. Department of Education. This unsettling trend has been driven in part by a series of mandates aimed at closing achievement gaps, preventing dropouts, and equitably serving more diverse student populations.

One of the ways that schools are meeting their education requirements is through better and more frequent testing, and to that end schools have widely adopted technologies like Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) to make the testing and grading process both versatile and efficient. The investment has come at a cost however, with schools spending more on specialized OMR “bubble sheets” along with equipment to scan and grade the completed test forms. The technology frequently leads to delays, sometimes lasting days, when schools transport sheets off-site for processing. Suchbottlenecks prevent timely student interventions and course adjustments.

Introduction

Figure 1. Per student expenditures (in constant 2007-08 dollars)

$10,200

$10,000

$9,600

$9,200

$8,800

$9,800

$9,400

$9,000

$8,6002001-02 2001-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07

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The challenge for schools today is to get smarterabout spending while refusing to compromiseon educational standards. Mainstay Partners’study of school districts showed that it isindeed possible to accomplish these twin goals.The study showed that new testing and gradingsolutions can not only control operatingand capital costs but actually enhance theeducational process.

The new solutions target key sources of waste embedded in traditional student testingand grading programs:

• Costly preprinted bubble sheets for testing. OMR bubble sheets are significantly more expensive than plain paper and are hard to personalize.

• Off-site or inefficient test scanning and grading. Many schools rely on central officesto process the sheets and distribute the results. Shipping the forms is costly and causedelays—particularly in school districts with high mobility rates—that impact student achievement. Others grade the sheets manually, a costly time sink for teachers.

• Output device proliferation. Over the years, most schools build up a hodgepodge ofoutput devices, including different types of printers, scanners and copiers. The multiple standalone devices consume valuable desktop space, take more energy to run, and cost more to maintain.

• Suboptimal fleet management. Faced with device proliferation, schools are invariably challenged to keep all the machines running in a costeffective fashion. Inherent device inefficiencies, poor networking, multiple maintenance contracts, and suboptimal consumables management all combine to keep costs high.

Add to this a host of other inefficient practices and it becomes apparent that schools can reap substantial savings by introducing solutions for tackling inefficiencies in testing and grading programs and the related output device infrastructure. In the sections that follow, we’ll share how leading school districts are using Lexmark Testing and Grading solutions to combat waste,realize cost savings, and help teachers and students accelerate the learning process.

Smarter spending

1 From a recent survey of school districts by the American Association of School Administrators (AASA)2 Same ASA survey

Sobering Lesson #1Nationally, 79% of district leaders expressconcern that the economic downturn has impaired their ability to improve studentachievement.1

Sobering Lesson #243% of school districts reported budget cuts of 10% or less for this academic year, and 21% reported cuts of 11% to 25%.2

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School districts around the country are discovering a new, more efficient way to manage the student testing and grading function. Pioneered by Lexmark, the new solution combines high-efficiency printing and scanning technology with sophisticated software in a single, flexible, cost-effective testing and grading platform. With Lexmark Testing and Grading Solutions, districts have found a rich source of efficiency and productivity savings at a time they are needed most, and an innovative way to empowerteachers with timely intelligence.

Adopted by school districts serving 4 million students nationwide, the latest Lexmark Testing and Grading Solutions leapfrog over traditional testing systems in terms of cost and efficiency. In the traditional environment, teachers administer tests by passing out pre-printed bubble sheets and either grading them manually or sending the tests off to be scanned and graded at a remote facility. Lexmark replaces the pre-printed forms with on-demand printing on plain paper; and it replaces off-site and manual grading with instant on-site scanning and grading using the same multifunction device that originally printed the tests.

The solution is fully networked, so all the devices work together and share a common,industry-proven application for recording the grades and analyzing and distributing the results. The software integrates with school’s existing student information systems, generating further efficiency gains. By connecting to these systems, teachers can create personalized test sheets that are“pre-slugged” with the student’s name, class and period. Results can be posted instantly to internal Web sites, electronic grade books or longitudinal reporting systems.

Intelligent move

“ Our objective was to improve the entire testing experience for teachers, administrators, students and parents. We have achieved that objective and more.”

Andy AlvaradoAssistant Superintendent, Educational Services Golden Valley Unifi ed School District

Figure 2. The Lexmark Testing and Grading Solution

Lexmark MFP’s distributedacross school district

Students take test

• Teacher enters user name and password

• Teacher is prompted for class

• Lexmark software pulls real time classroom information

• Prints answer sheet for each student

• Teacher puts tests in ADF on MFP• Teacher enters user name & password• Scanning begins Software grades tests, and sends back to SIS• Software immediately prints reports for teachers

• Teacher hands out tests and• Answer sheets

LDD Server with Principia Remark

SIS Database

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What kinds of benefits are school districts actually seeing from implementing Lexmark Testing and Grading Solutions? To find out, Mainstay Partners looked at the following school districts that have deployed Lexmark solutions:

• Laredo Independent School District, Texas• Mobile County Public School System, Alabama• New York City Department of Education• Prince George’s County Public Schools, Maryland• Roslyn Union Free School District, New York• Spokane Public School District, Washington• Spotsylvania County Public Schools, Virginia• Washington County Public Schools, Maryland

The selection of schools represent a cross-section of institutions across the U.S., including small districts of just 25,000 students to New York City’s public school system with 1.1 million students. Annual operating budgets at these institutions ranged from $95 million to $21.2 billion. Figures 3 and 4 show the student enrollment size and school budgets at the schools studied.

The solution in action

Figure 3: Vertical Case Studies: Number of Students per School District(Note: New York City DOE with 1.1M students not shown)

140,000120,000100,00080,00060,00040,00020,0000

Cypress-FairbanksIndependent

LaredoIndependent

Mobile CountryPublic

Prince George’sCountry

Roslyn UnionFree

SpotsylvaniaCountry

SpokanePublic

WashingtonCountry

100,000

24,500

63,000

128,000

3,40025,000 29,000

22,000

No. of Students

Figure 4: Lexmark Education Study: School Budgets(Note: New York City Dept. of Education not shown)

$1,800$1,600$1,400$1,200$1,000$800$600$400$200$0

LaredoIndependent

School District

MobileCountry Public

Schools

Prince George’sCountry Public

Schools

Roslyn UnionFree School

District

SpotsylvniaCountry Public

Schools

SpokanePublic School

District

WashingtonCountry Public

Schools

Budget/Annual Expenditure $M

$170M

$472M

$96M$213M $305M

$102M

$1,700M

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At every school district, we found that the new solution is generating benefits that extend to a broad set of stakeholders:

• Teachers saw their testing-and-grading productivity soar as much as 90% after implementing the Lexmark solution, which automated the end-to-end process. They now see test results in minutes instead of hours or days, enabling faster interventions and making impromptu or daily assessments practical.

• Students are seeing similar reductions in wait times, helping them learn from the results while the subjects are top of mind. The solution also generates individualized student reports that improve school-home communication.

• School administrators and executives are seeing the positive impact of the Lexmark solution on their district’s financial performance. On average, districts realized annual cost savings of $200,000 by shifting to testing and grading solutions that eliminate pre-printed forms.

• IT departments are seeing lighter workloads as districts consolidate on fewerdevices–typically 35% fewer–and implement pro-active maintenance programs.

Broad-based benefi ts

The following sections dig deeper into the benefi ts achieved by the school districts welooked at in this study.

Students

Administrator

Teachers

Lexmark Testing and Grading Solutions Impact

IT Support

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Across the board, the school systems inthis study realized savings by switching to Lexmark MFPs, which consolidate thefunction of several devices in a single machine that costs less to purchase, consumes less toner and desk space, and requires less power to run. In four of the districts studied—in New York, Alabama, and Washington—schools reported hundreds of thousands of dollarsin savings and cost avoidance.

• Mobile County Public School System saved $200,000 by integrating printers, copiers, faxes, and scanners into multi-function printers

• Roslyn Free School District saved $148,000 in consumables• Spokane Public School District saved $125,000 after expanding the solution to 34 elementary schools• New York City Department of Education saved $552,000 per year in energy costs

While cost savings is a key motivator, officials said that faster grading and immediate access to results weighed equally in their decision to move to on-site, on-demand testing and grading solutions. “For the first time, teachers have total access to student information almost immediately,” said Bill Flaherty, Assistant Superintendent of Technology Services at Virginia’s Spotsylvania County Public Schools, which adopted Lexmark technology to speed grading and results distribution.

Districts are seeing faster grading because the technology gives teachers and administrators full control over the scoring process. Test forms never leave their possession and results are available in minutes. Completely eliminated are the delays built into old centralized grading systems, whichtypically require schools to send testing sheets off site and wait days for results. The delays prevent teachers from providing rapid feedback to students and parents.

Driving cost avoidance and savings

Faster testing and grading

“ Paper consumption plunged by 81% to just 273,000 sheets monthly, from 1.5 million.”

Dr. Edward A. SalinaAssistant Superintendent, Roslyn UnionFree School District

have total access to student information almost

“ The elegance of this entire system is its simplicity. From the teachers’ perspective, it is essentially a one button process. It works seamlessly. ”

Bill FlahertyAssistant Superintendent of Technology Services, Spotsylvania County Public SchoolsFree School District

Figure 5. Average Annual Cost Savings and Avoidance

$600,000

$500,000

$300,000

$100,000

$400,000

$200,000

0Mobile CountryPublic School

System

Roslyn Union Free School

District

Spokane Public School Distict

New York CityDepartment of

Education

$200,000$148,000

$125,000

$552,000

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Using Lexmark MFP-based solutions, for example, teachers feed a stack of completed bubble test sheets into the same device they used earlier to print the tests. Software running on the local network scores tests in seconds, and ports the results into a student information system or Website minutes later. “Within 15 minutes of scanning test sheets, the data is in our STI™ student database and stakeholders can view test results on our Web site,” one teacher said.

Automated testing and grading solutions are giving teachers greater flexibility, too. With the power to prepare personalized “pre-slugged” bubble test sheets in minutes, teachers can deliver quizzes and tests at a moment’s notice and get near-real-time updates on student comprehension. “Teachers can prepare tests and quizzes on the fly, scan the completed sheets and review results immediately,” said Rolaetta Alford, the principal of a Maryland elementary school. “It took just 15 minutes for the teachers to get a handle on it.”

Moreover, by relieving teachers of the burden of manual test preparation and grading, the solution is giving teachers more time during the day to focus on education. “You’re looking at an 80% to 90% time savings,” said Evelyn Adams, a teacher at Prince George’s County Public Schools in Maryland. “That frees me up to spend time on things that make a difference in my students’ achievement.”

While the shift to new MFP-basedtesting and grading solutions is giving teachers faster feedback on student performance, it’s what teachers do with that feedback that really makes a difference. Teachers say that by exposing learning gaps and class comprehension issues immediately, the new technology helps them provide one-on-one help right away and make rapid adjustments to curricula and course content.

In the schools surveyed, teachers said they are updating curriculum in days instead of weeks. Reporting tools built into the solution help the process along by quickly identifying gaps and trends in test results. Students, too, are getting grades back sooner, helping them understand their strengths and weaknesses while the concepts are still fresh in their minds.

Boosting achievement

The range of improvements reportedby the schools surveyed is impressive:

• One school saw grade-posting cycles accelerate from 10 days to minutes.

• The throughput boost made possible by the scanning and grading technology is giving one district the ability to grade 55,000 test sheets every 9 weeks

• Those same effi ciencies are allowing another school system to process more than 1.6 million sheets per year.

• One school can now grade nearly 55,000 student test sheets every 9 weeks.

“ The number of students completing assigned math homework has gone from approximately 40-80%. The class average for math quizzes has gone from 50-60% the fi rst week, to 70-85% in eight weeks. ”

Evelyn Adams, Fourth Grade TeacherCarmondy Hills Elementary School

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The net effect: Teachers are noticing a measurable improvement in student achievement as grading delays disappear and teachers become more closely attuned to students’ academic needs on a test-by-test basis. Further, helping the relationship are the productivity gains made possible by test automation, which teachers say is minimizing manual test-prepping and grading work, and allowing for more time for student interaction. At one school we studied, the number of students completing math homework nearly doubled after implementing the new testing and grading solution, and average scores on math quizzes soared.

Environmental sustainability has emerged as a top priority at almost every educational institution we surveyed. Themes like waste reduction and energy conservation were not only taught in the classroom, but are now part of the business planning of school districts and an important strategy for stretching tight educational budgets. Printing operations emerged as a prime target at the schools we surveyed, with officials discovering they can trim waste and energy consumption by taking several basic steps:

• Phase out color inkjets in favor of monochrome laser printers that are cheaper to operateand use fewer “consumables” such as toner

• Consolidate devices by switching to multifunction printers that save space and reduce electricity usage

• Move to two-sided printing for high-volume jobs such as student test forms, cutting paper consumption in half

A majority of the schools in the survey stopped purchasing pre-printed test forms entirely by adopting on-demand plain-paper printing solutions. These schools are saving on storage space as well as the extra cost of pre-printed forms. Other schools are going one step further in battlingwaste by moving to electronic documents that can be emailed instead of printed.

Curbing consumption

“ We have been able to implement two-sided answer sheets. That cuts my paper use in half—a tremendous paper savings for an elementary school. ”

Evelyn Adams, TeacherCarmondy Hills Elementary School

At New York’s Roslyn Union FreeSchool District, paper consumption fell81%—from 1.5 million to 273,000 sheets per month—after the district moved to Lexmark multifunction printers with a “secure print release” capability that scans and distributesdocuments electronically. In addition to slashingpaper waste, the district is expected to cut its annual $100,000 bill for printing, envelope stuffi ng and postage by 40%.

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As schools confront tougher economictimes, many are discovering that new testing and grading solutions offer an effective way to deal with tighter budgets without compromising educational quality. Momentum is building for technology, pioneered by Lexmark, that target one ofthe largest sources of waste and inefficiencies in school systems today:the use of expensive pre-printed formsfor bubble-sheet testing, slow off-site grading systems, and inefficient poorly managed output devices.

From New York City to Texas to Washington State, the school districts surveyed in this study successfully deployed Lexmark solutions to automate and accelerate the testing and grading process. The solutions combine networked multifunction printers with software for managing the entire process, from test-form creation, to scanning and grading, to analyzing and publishingtest results.

These school districts are generating significant savings over a range of cost categories. All ofthe schools have eliminated pre-printed form in favor of economical plain paper. They are alsosaving hundreds of thousands of dollars per year by switching to networked multifunction printers that cost less to own and operate, and easily integrate and share data with student information systems. Furthermore, the solutions are helping teachers avoid hundreds of hours a year inmanual grading chores while speeding access to test results—a powerful formula for boosting academic achievement.

For more information about Lexmark Testing and Grading Solution visit:http://www1.lexmark.com/content/en_us/solutions/industry_solutions/education/education_overview.shtml

Making the grade

“ Our relationship with Lexmark is a true, uniquepartnership. This was a huge high-profi le project and the Lexmark team stayed on-site until everything wascustomized, tested, and fully operational. It has been avery rewarding experience for us.”

Margaret ReedDirector of Information Services, Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District

“ Every vendor was willing to sell us hardware, butonly Lexmark was able to develop a comprehensive long-term strategy that met our specifi c currentand future needs. ”

Roy LanierChief Technology Offi cer, Laredo Independent Schools District

A global technology companyLexmark International, Inc. (NYSE: LXK) provides businesses of all sizes with a broad range of printing and imaging products including management, imaging and workflow software, solutions and services that help our customers print less and save more.

Lexmark products are sold in more than 170 countries. We offer a single global product catalog and operations methodology. Lexmark services are linked by a single reporting infrastructure. In 2010, approximately 57 percent of our revenue came from outside the United States.

Assessment experienceLexmark Professional Services has performed more than 4,000 assessments. The average experience of our consultants is more than 16 years. Ninety percent have additional qualifications including advanced degrees and certifications in CDIA+, PMI, and Six Sigma. For more than 20 years, Lexmark has focused on and developed expertise in key verticals: financial services; healthcare; federal, state and local government; education; retail; pharmacy; and manufacturing and distribution.

Product, solutions and services leadershipIn 2010 Lexmark again led all competitors in the number of U.S. awards won for its laser and inkjet products. Lexmark also offers more OEM software solutions/enhancements than any other provider.

Ninety percent of the top global retailers, 70 percent of the top global banks, and 36 percent of the Fortune 50 are Lexmark customers. Fifty percent of the top global retailers and banks are also Lexmark managed print services customers.

Corporate vision and cultureLexmark’s success is driven by the company’s overarching commitment to its customers. With a corporate vision of “Customers For Life,” we earn our customers’ loyalty by listening to them, anticipating their needs and working to create value in their eyes. Our technology ownership and short organizational structure support this vision.

Responsible employer and neighborLexmark strives to maintain best practices for sustainability – balancing economic, environmental and social concerns. Lexmark ranked first among technology companies in the 2010 Bloomberg Maplecroft Climate Innovation Indexes (seventh overall among 350 ranked companies).

Visit www.lexmark.com for more information.

Lexmark reserves the right to change specifications or other product information without notice. References in this publication to Lexmark products or services do not imply that Lexmark intends to make them available in all countries in which Lexmark operates. LEXMARK PROVIDES THIS PUBLICATION “AS IS” WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. This publication may contain third party information or links to third party sites that are not under the control of or maintained by Lexmark. Access to any such third party information or site is at the user’s own risk and Lexmark is not responsible for the accuracy or reliability of any information, data, opinions, advice or statements made by these third parties. Lexmark provides this information and links merely as a convenience and the inclusion of such information and/or links does not imply an endorsement. All performance information was determined in a controlled environment. Actual results may vary. Performance information is provided “AS IS” and no warranties or guarantees are expressed or implied by Lexmark. Buyers should consult other sources of information, including benchmark data, to evaluate the performance of a solution they are considering buying. Copyright © 2013 Lexmark International, Inc. All rights reserved.

1 Based on awards from leading US technical publications and test laboratories.2 Top global retailers are determined based upon food and drug store, general merchandiser, and specialty retailer revenue according to the Fortune Magazine’s 2010Global 500. Top global banks refer to Commercial and Savings Institutions and are determined based upon revenue according to 2010 Global 500.

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Lexmark in Education: Schools drive savings and student ...media.lexmark.com/www/doc/...Testing_and_Grading-K12-White-Pape… · leading school districts are using Lexmark Testing