Online exams?

County high school students could be taking end-ofcourse exams on a computer in the future.

About 20 Gaffney High students took the English I exam online recently in a pilot project by the school's guidance department. School districts now have the option to give end-of-course tests on computer.

State figures show about one of four tests are given online. Student scores on the end-of-course exams account for 20 percent of their final grade in introductory courses.

District testing coordinator Kathy Phillips said the district is evaluating whether online computer testing will be a reliable and cost-effective way to administer some state-required accountability tests.

A rapid scoring system allows schools to include the test scores in students' final course grades. Students' scores are posted on a secure password-protected Web site within 36 hours after student answers are received by the scoring contractor.

"We have not gotten the scores back from the company so we don't know how well it worked. One concern we have is making sure the test data is scored correctly and can be done as reliably as the traditional practice of mailing the tests off to be scored by a company," Phillips said. "For these reasons, Gaffney High School only gave the English I tests to a small group of students. Online testing is just an option we are considering as we look at ways to reduce the cost of testing and get results back in a more timely manner."

Gaffney High expects to receive results back from the online English I end-ofcourse test after Christmas, Phillips said. The state released results last week for end-of-course exams in English 1, Algebra 1 and physical science.