by Imed Bouchrika, Phd
When it comes to assessment, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Each organization has its own unique needs, and the best assessment software will be able to cater to these needs.
In education, for example, online assessment tools must be able to track student progress and identify areas of improvement. Assessment may also include student stress and mental health.
In business, on the other hand, assessment platforms must be able to evaluate employee performance and assess training needs. The software should also adapt to both in-office or remote training.
The best online assessment platform will be able to provide a comprehensive solution that can be tailored to the specific needs of each organization. With so many different options on the market, including those provided by education ERP software solutions, it can be difficult to know where to start.
However, by taking the time to assess the specific needs of your organization, you can narrow down the field and find the best best online assessment platform for your needs.
As the largest economy, the U.S. will always be a major focus of how things are in matters of world rankings. While the country is regarded as having the best university education in the world, as evidenced by its dominance of the major top 10 world rankings (Share America, 2021), the case is not that rosy for K-12 education in America.
Reading Assessment
The U.S. ranked 13th in reading in the 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment findings (PISA, 2019). PISA is an OECD education research program that assesses the aptitude of 15-year-olds worldwide in reading, math and science. Interestingly, China and its territories figured in the top 4 spots, with only Singapore breaking the juggernaut at second place. China topped the reading category, with Macao in third and Hong Kong in 4th. Among the G7 countries, the U.S. lagged only behind Canada (6th).
Source: PISA, 2019
Honing students’ literacy skills is not the sole realm of schools. Guardians and families play a critical role, too. This importance is not lost in a National Center for Education Statistics report (2019), in which 43 million U.S. adults, or 21% of the overall adult population, have been found to possess low literacy skills (NCES, 2019). It is an obstacle all too common to the economically disadvantaged despite the current availability of the best academic advising software tools.
Mathematics Assessment
The U.S. performed worse in math based on the PISA findings. It was at 37th, classified as having level 2 skills (PISA, 2019). Again, China (1st) and its territories Macao (3rd) and Hong Kong (4th) cornered the top 4 with only Singapore (2nd) in their way. All four countries/territories are classified as having level 4 skills.
The U.S. performance is starker when compared with G7 countries—it was last. Japan was at 6th, Canada at 12th, the United Kingdom at 18th, Germany at 20th, France at 25th and Italy got the 31st spot, all having level 3 skills.
Source: PISA, 2019
It is no surprise that there exists a math gap between skills and job demand in the U.S. (Luminary Labs, U.S. Department of Education, 2017). Paint this against the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ forecast (n.d.) of math occupations having a faster growth rate (28%) compared to the average job growth through 2030, future job opportunities are being lost now to K-12 students even as they complete their K-12 education for a livable wage in their adulthood (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, n.d.).
Numeracy Skills among U.S. Adults
A future built on math, from business transactions to scientific undertakings to everyday living rooted in algorithms and tech gadgets, requires a population with advanced numeracy skills. In the U.S., 70% of the adult population has sufficient numeracy skills for basic statistics and quantity calculations (Institute of Education Sciences, 2020). However, 62.7 million possess low numeracy skills in English.
Surprisingly, among those with poor numeracy skills in English, only 15% were born outside of the U.S. 85% were actually native-born Americans. Digging deeper into the data, the Institute of Education Sciences (2020) study found out that, among those with poor numeracy skills, 39% are White, 26% are Black and 28% are Hispanic, all born in the U.S. Clearly, the language barrier is not a factor, nor does immigration of people with limited English automatically result in poor numeracy skills.
Source: Institute of Education Sciences, 2020
Science Assessment
The U.S. is considered as having level 3 skills in science, where it ranked 18th. China still topped this list, followed by Singapore and Macao. The U.S. sits in the middle in the science ranking when compared to G7 countries, superseded by Japan (5th), Canada (8th), the U.K. (14th) and Germany (16th).
Source: PISA, 2019
School districts across the country are under pressure to improve student achievement levels, and many are turning to online assessment platforms as a way to track progress and identify areas of need.
Coding assessment tools provide educators with a wealth of data that can be used to inform instruction. For example, teachers can use data from formative assessments to adjust their teaching methods in real-time based on student needs.
In addition, data from summative assessments can be used to identify areas of the curriculum that need to be reviewed or strengthened. These tools also provide a valuable tool for communication between teachers and parents. Parents can use data from assessments to track their child’s progress and get a better sense of what is being learned in the classroom.
Furthermore, assessment data can be used by school administrators to make decisions about staffing, resources, and budgeting, which is why some workforce management companies list it as a priority when developing functionalities. In short, online assessment tool is a powerful tool that can help schools to improve student achievement.
Renaissance Star Assessments is an educational assessment software that offers data and insights that can help guide instruction and improve student performance. With software assessment, users get access to cutting-edge learning science and test design, and they provide predictive performance data for reading, math, early literacy and custom assessment. The assessments can be used to identify areas of strengths and weaknesses, track progress over time, and compare students to their peers. In addition, the data from the Renaissance Star Assessments can be used to inform instructional decisions and improve teaching practices.
ProProfs Online Assessment Software is a student assessment software that helps you to easily build online assessments for learning, training and hiring. With ProProfs, you can customize questions, branding, distribute and collect tests, keep track of responses, and organize tests and results. ProProfs also offers pre-employment job candidate testing, skill assessment tests, video interviews, and psychographic tests.
Mastery by Instructure (Canvas) is a school assessment software that focuses on thoughtful assessment for insights needed to drive learning forward. The mastery item bank offers formative assessments, interim assessments, and predictive assessments for K-12 and higher learning. The college prep focus of the system provides students with the insights needed to be successful in their courses. Mastery by Instructure offers a variety of features to support assessment, including item analysis, student performance data, and reporting tools. The system is designed to be user-friendly and easy to navigate. Educators can use the system to create assignments, track student progress, and provide feedback. Students can use the system to practice skills and track their own progress.
Award Force is a powerful and flexible developer assessment platform for submissions of music, film, design, photography, art and more. With Award Force, you can see exactly what the student created online, and assess and provide feedback from anywhere. Award Force also offers four powerful and flexible assessment modes, multi-lingual and multi-currency support, and is easily themed to match your brand. With Award Force, you can easily and efficiently assess submissions from anywhere in the world.
Blackboard Learn assessment software higher education solution offers a unique approach to assessment that leverages the teaching and learning already happening in Blackboard Learn. This approach reduces the burden on faculty, students, and assessment professionals while empowering institutions to make better, faster decisions about learning outcomes. The software also provides gap insights so institutions can proactively intervene. There are two approaches to assessment available through the solution: 1) formative assessment, which provides ongoing feedback to help improve learning; and 2) summative assessment, which evaluates student learning at the end of a course or program. Both approaches have their own benefits and can be tailored to meet the specific needs of an institution.
Kahoot! is a versatile IT assessment software that can be used in a variety of settings, from the traditional to the virtual classroom. Kahoot! helps educators quickly gauge student understanding, identify topics that need to be reviewed, and provide practice and test prep to students. In a blended learning environment, Kahoot! can also be used to power up independent study by providing insights-driven instruction. With Kahoot!, educators can do quick pulse checks, pre-assess student knowledge, engage students with content review, reinforce challenging content, and test practice and prep.
ExamSoft is the best assessment platform in terms of retention and remediation, accreditation, efficiency, flexibility, and secure assessment. The platform delivers powerful reporting and analytics to help educators track progress and identify areas of need. ExamSoft’s features include the ability to create thousands of secure assessments, administer them online or offline, and instantly grade them. The platform also offers the ability to customize assessments to meet the specific needs of each student. Likewise, ExamSoft provides a wide range of options for delivering assessments, including paper-based, computer-based, and mobile-based options.
Easy LMS provides a central place for organizations to access all of their employee training material. With Easy LMS, businesses can build unlimited courses and create unlimited exams that are challenging and track employee progress. Additionally, businesses can automate their work with Easy LMS. Automation features include setting pass rates, availability, and time limits for exams as well as creating insightful reports.
TestGorilla is a screening tool that helps identify the best candidates for a job. It offers a library of 238 scientifically validated tests that assess job-specific skills, as well as personality and values tests. With TestGorilla, you can automatically grade and rank your candidates, ensuring that all applicants have an equal opportunity. The platform is professional and well-designed, making it easy to use for both employers and job seekers. In addition, the subscription cost is very reasonable, making TestGorilla an excellent value for businesses of all sizes.
iMocha is an AI-powered digital skills assessment platform that offers remote hiring, virtual university hiring, learning and development, and upskilling solutions. The platform has a client-ready pool of job seekers who are pre-screened and ready to be hired, as well as a skill library with over 50,000 courses and training programs. iMocha also offers a marketplace for job boards and elearning platforms, where employers can post jobs and recruiters can find candidates.
HireVue is a challenge-based assessment platform used by many college campuses, large businesses, and organizations within the tech, telecom, public sector, and financial services industries. HireVue’s game-based and interview-based assessment modules help identify top talent by testing for job-related skills and competencies. The platform’s conversational AI module enables assessment takers to have natural, lifelike conversations with avatars in order to further evaluate their communication skills. In addition, HireVue’s scheduling and interview builder modules streamline the assessment process for both candidates and employers. Finally, the platform’s text recruiting module allows recruiters to connect with candidates via text message in order to assess their interest level and qualifications.
WileyPlus is an online learning platform that offers assessment capabilities to instructors via an application program interface (API). Through the API, instructors can administer course assignments by selecting from a pool of more than 2 million of Wiley’s assets and more than a dozen unique assessment types. With WileyPlus, instructors can build homework, quizzes, and tests that are aligned with their campus LMS. In addition, WileyPlus offers a variety of question types and allows instructors to deliver robust assessments that are tailored to their students’ needs, as well as the ability to create custom exams.
Evalart offers a comprehensive library of assessments to help you identify the most-fitting candidates in your selection process. The software developer’s test measures intelligence, abstract thinking, and attention to detail, while the personality test assesses personality traits that may be relevant to the job. You can also create your own custom tests to measure specific skills or abilities that are important to you.
Berke provides pre-employment testing in order to help businesses streamline their hiring processes. The tests provided by Berke are designed to measure job-relevant qualities and skills, providing employers with objective data that can be used to make better hiring decisions. In addition, the use of pre-employment testing can help to reduce turnover by predicting which candidates will be engaged to do the job as required. Businesses can improve their efficiency and reduce bias in their hiring process.
Glider.ai is a powerful AI- proctored assessment platform that helps organizations validate competency, evaluate fit, and scale hiring. With Glider.ai, job seekers can take assessments in a wide variety of subjects with ease and confidence. The platform offers real-world simulations, assessment insights, dynamic questions, custom branding, candidate customization, tech and non-tech assessments, hackathons, test administration, collaborative authoring, and accommodations workflows.
Predictive Index Behavioral Assessment is an assessment tool that helps employers predict an individual’s on-the-job success. The assessment is untimed and consists of a series of questions about work-related behaviors. The respondent is asked to choose the option that best describes their behavior in each situation. There are no right or wrong answers, and the goal is to simply identify an individual’s natural patterns of behavior. The PI Behavioral Assessment measures four core areas of behavior: Dominance, Extraversion, Patience, and Formality. These four dimensions have been shown to be predictive of job performance in a wide variety of occupations. The Predictive Index Behavioral Assessment can be a valuable tool for employers who are looking for insights into an applicant’s potential job success.
ClassMarker is a powerful online Quiz maker for business and education. With ClassMarker you can create custom tests and exams online with ease. Advanced testing features include the ability to investigate and assist with online quizzes, as well as brand your quizzes and custom certificates. Secure Online Quiz Maker also offers an API & Webhooks for integration with your website or Learning Management System (LMS).
CodeSignal is a technical interview and assessment platform that helps engineering teams reduce bias, save time, and improve the candidate experience. CodeSignal’s mission is to make great candidates shine. Key products include the CodersRank Developer Hiring Platform and the CodeSignal Coding Scores. The CodersRank Developer Hiring Platform streamlines the technical screening and phone interview steps of the hiring process with an arsenal of tools for sourcing, screening, interviewing, and assessing candidates. The CodeSignal Coding Scores provide an objective measure of a developer’s skill level and act as a common language for companies and developers alike. By building a comprehensive developer hiring platform and making coding skill scores widely available, CodeSignal is leveling the playing field for developers around the world.
Nearpod is a powerful formative assessment tool that allows teachers to get real-time insights into student learning. Using Nearpod, teachers can deliver lessons with interactive media and assessments, and students can interact from any device, live or on their own time. Nearpod offers nine types of formative assessments, including polls, quizzes, open-ended questions, and draw-it activities. These fun, interactive activities help teachers gauge student understanding and identify areas of need. With Nearpod, teachers can easily adapt their instruction to ensure that all students are engaging and achieving at high levels.
Testmoz has a free online test generator that makes it easy to create and administer tests. You can add, modify, and reorganize questions on a page, and Testmoz can be set to do the grading. You can email the URL to your students or post it on your website, and at a glance, you can see how everyone performed. You can search, sort, filter, and partition the results to find out what areas your students need help in.
All in all, the best assessment software is the one that can provide a comprehensive and objective evaluation of employees or students. It should be able to take into account different factors, such as skills, knowledge, and experience. In education, learning models like mastery learning or blended learning should also be taken into account when choosing assessment software.
Finally, the assessment software should be affordable and easy to use, and able to generate reports that are both accurate and reliable.
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