CATs...

... and not the feline variety.
Unlike the feline variety, these CATs have been the bain of my working life for the past two weeks and there's still a week to go.

CAT stands for Cognative Ability Test - don't ask, haven't got a clue - and it's something that is thrust upon the new Year 7 children and soon as they get to "big school". Cruelly, they aren't told they're going to do them, so "thrust" is the right word here. It's, essentially, exactly what it says on the tin. It's a series of ability tests to give teachers an idea of what these kids can do and is used for putting them into sets and things like that. I think that's right. I'm just a humble Network Manager.

In previous years, these tests were done on paper. They were completed in a day. The entire Year 7 was taken off timetable and it was all done and dusted. Marvellous. No problems. No hassle. Perfect organisation and it could run like a dream.
Unfortunately, like all things lately, this year it's decided to move to an online test so, surprise surprise, yours truly gets lumbered with it... and so started my role as temporary exam officer.

Now, you'd think, as this was a test that would have some impact on the poor little tyke's future, it would be perfect. Preparation would be simple and quick; running it would be smooth and efficient. Not a chance, hence my CONTINUOUS involvement.

Online testing = computers.
Computers are, obviously, used all the time in school. Classes are timetabled in the IT rooms and, when nothing is timetabled in there, someone has booked them for another subject. Online testing was bound to disrupt the timetable in some way. The way that was decided was that the Year 7s would miss 3 weeks of IT lessons and the online testing would be done in those lessons. That's 3 weeks. That 10 Year 7 lessons a week - 8.3 hours of my working week doing these things. Oh, how excited was I?

The lovely people who created this amazing testing website had provided some detailed instructions on setup and what the kids needed to do, etc. Each of the three tests (one per week) was divided into 3 sub-tests. These were specifically timed by the computer and the kids had no control. If they'd finished a sub-test, they had to wait for the timer to run out when it would automatically go on to the next sub-test and so on. With this is mind, it was recommended that a minimum of 50 minutes be allocated to get the kids in, sit them down, log them on, relay instructions and get them started... which is just as well considering each of our lessons is 50-minutes long.

So, they reckon 50 minutes was adequate, yeah?
Who tested this theory and how efficient were their children?!
The first week wasn't so bad. In total, the timed section would be 28 minutes leaving us with 22 minutes to explain everything. We cracked the first week, no problem at all. A few kids ran over but all was good.
The second week, however, showed me how inadequate the timing was. A 36-minute, maths-based test in three sections leaving 14 minutes to sit them down, get them logged in (which I had simplified to cut out as much of the messing about as possible) and started.
Yes, possible... but forgetting that each section has it's own, untimed, introduction which, even after listening the majority the week before, the kids thought theyd listen to again. Running over was inevitable for most of the sessions and so that went on my list of things to rant about.

What was also a bit pants was the amount of technical issues.
Not website or internet crashes or stuff like that but silly things that could have been avoided if:
1. the documentation provided said something like that could happen or
2. the software was written so nothing like that WOULD happen.

For instance, it was an instruction that we gave to the kids that, when they had finished to not touch anything. Don't close windows or anything because the results were sent off automatically when the timer had run out. That was fair enough. All fine on that front.
There was no instruction to say, oh by the way, don't accidentally press the button on the side of any mouse that has one because that completely wipes the test and you'll have to start it again. A few children did this and are now gutted that they have to do it again after Half Term.
Also, there was no warning to say, whatever you do, don't even think about even breathing on the keyboard. This is a mouse-based test so the keyboard isn't used. Therefore, we've designed a punishment if you dare to use it. If you touch a key on the keyboard, this will send you right back to the beginning of the test and you'll have to start it all over again.
Surely these technicalities should have been ironed about before they went ahead and made the tests available??

I was expecting a list of names who were absent and need to take the tests after Half Term.
I wasn't expecting the list of names who made the above mistakes to be longer.

So, I have one more week of this.
This week is a 30-minute test.
After two weeks of the same thing, will they need instructions at the beginning?
If I'm lucky, I might get to be a Network Manager again after Half Term.

That'll do, I reckon. Enough ranting.
Expect another one when it's all over.

BYL