 Efficient scanning in very testing timesAs a full solution provider to government education departments, SEMA is on the mark with a large-scale student testing program. Following five years of successfully managing state-based testing programs, SEMA conducted the first National Assessment Program in 2008 as the solution provider to the New South Wales Department of Education and Training (DET) for the processing of NSW and ACT schools. About the testing programThe National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is conducted and designed to provide a benchmark series of tests in reading, writing, language conventions, to include spelling, punctuation and grammar and working effectively with numbers, space and measurement for students in Australian schools in years 3, 5, 7 and 9. The program was rolled out as a single national program for the first time in May 2008, as opposed to testing being held on an individual state-by-state basis. SEMA's service deliveryApproximately two million test booklets were printed and securely despatched to schools across these states hitting the precise delivery window for school receipt. Post test day activities had 3,500 schools returning the completed test materials via Australia Post where the SEMA tracking system was engaged to validate and qualify the materials from all schools. Following the test, all materials were returned to SEMA for processing, which involved the data capture of student responses through high speed scanning and verification processes. Answers are captured either electronically for multiple choice and short answer questions, or streamed to teachers for marking via SEMA's proprietary online marking solution. The holistic providerSEMA managed the full end-to-end testing process with its business partner, ACER, who administered the hire of teachers and management of the marking facility. Each test must be tracked at every stage to student and page level. SEMA processed approximately two million test books for NSW and ACT and successfully met the delivery milestones for priority schools through to final data hand over to NSW DET for final audit and calculations. SEMA completed the NAPLAN project for NSW by processing the entire print and packing tasks of over 360,000 student reports in just over two weeks. Benefits of SEMA's solutionThe key benefits achieved by the DET were testing process integrity, marking efficiencies and increased functionality. SEMA eliminated the previous marking systems of manual handling test booklets, calculating control script responses and ensured teachers marking adherence with the specified criteria. SEMA's online marking delivered:
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