Last school year, Westerville City School District officials took proactive measures to prepare for online assessments. By restricting guest Internet access, as well as reducing district-wide access to certain Internet-based services, such as streaming music and video sites, the district realized an approximate 45 percent reduction to the bandwidth being used.
This past summer, school officials doubled the district’s bandwidth to accommodate additional devices that have been purchased and avoid the need to curtail internet access during State testing. In November and December 2016, during State testing, networks were found to be operating within acceptable parameters. Therefore, officials continue to feel that no restrictions are necessary for upcoming State online assessments during the month of April.
For planning purposes, staff and students are encouraged to limit to the extent possible the use of streaming video and audio on testing dates. While district officials believe bandwidth will be adequate to handle increased demand on the network, access to specific sites to save bandwidth for testing may need to occur. If reductions to specific sites were to be put into place over multiple days, users will be notified via email.
The district’s 2016-2017 assessment calendar can be accessed at www.wcsoh.org by clicking on the “Our Calendars” tab.