Posted by Communications staff on 10/20/2021
It’s been a long time coming. But thanks to the unquenchable spirit of Lonna Gately, Spokane Public Schools this week became one of the first -- if not the first -- districts in the state to do the online SBAC (the state standardized test) with braille.
About five years ago, Gately, teacher of the Blind and Visually Impaired, started thinking about the SBAC and the future needs of her students. She knew that the existing paper-and-pencil version of the test doesn’t provide the same information as the online version. The online version is adaptive, meaning the questions become harder or easier depending on how a student is answering. This provides a more accurate picture of the student’s academic standing.
“The braille ‘paper and pencil’ test is not equitable to what the sighted peers in the classroom are taking,” Gately said. “Our students deserve the same information as the rest of the kids taking the test.”
Janet Carlson and Denise Brown, who also teach the visually impaired, joined Gately to start researching types of technology needed to offer the online version of the test. The braille SBAC works just like the SBAC for everyone else, except that when a student starts a question on their computer, it gets sent to Gately’s computer so she can emboss it. Embossing is essentially printing in braille. The student then answers the question and moves on to the next. The test can adapt, just like it does for everyone else taking the SBAC.
Server issues, software trouble, challenges with the braille files, and incorrect settings in the state system threatened to derail the project. But even as the testing window drew ever closer and the software was still not working, Gately refused to give up.
“I was determined that our students would take the same test as all of their peers,” she said, noting that she had two 5th graders at Garfield Elementary School take the SBAC this week. “We are all about equity in our district and I wanted to see this through.”
When at last the test worked just as it should, Gately was beyond happy.
“I nearly cried when I got it to work,” she said. “I was jumping for joy, in fact!”
Gately is quick to applaud the many people who made the online SBAC with braille a reality. The SPS Special Education department swiftly acquired the required braille transcription software, ITSC (Instructional Technology Support Center) kindly responded to Gately’s many phone calls, the Garfield staff supported her decision to use the online version, and students patiently worked with her to see the project through.
“It really has been a team effort,” she said.
