Case Studies: Public School District

Pittsburgh Public Schools

For the last eight years, Pittsburgh Public Schools, one of the largest districts in the state of Pennsylvania, has realized remarkable advancements in its world language program—thanks to its successful implementation of OWL Testing Software for all of its foreign language programs and skills assessments—especially oral proficiency.

Understanding the importance of oral proficiency development in language learning, Pittsburgh Public Schools’ world language administrators sought a simple yet sophisticated way to test its students’ speaking and listening skills. By using OWL Testing Software, the district is able to administer more than 1,700 high-stakes oral proficiency assessments each year, as well as 2,000 reading and listening exams this year alone. Not only does OWL Testing Software streamline what had been a difficult process, but the district can easily gather valuable data to determine the effectiveness of their curricula, teaching methods, and rubrics.

Read more about Pittsburgh Public School District’s success in Assessing Students’ Oral Proficiency: A Case for Online Testing, p. 377, Foreign Language Annals Volume 40, No. 3, Fall 2007, published by ACTFL. Contact us for a no obligation copy of the research paper by noting "ACTFL paper" in your comments.