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As we know all too well, school districts are grappling with a myriad of challenges — from staffing shortages to surging student needs. While schools are increasingly leveraging technology, how much can digital solutions really help ease the burden as we aim to provide the highest possible services to our students and school community?

Throughout my 25 years as a school psychologist, I’ve seen firsthand how the Digital Assessments Library for Schools can streamline assessments — liberating staff from time-consuming administrative tasks and freeing them to focus on what matters most: supporting students and driving better outcomes. Even more important, digital assessments help promote equity among districts and empower student growth. 

We’re seeing impressive results from those making the switch. In fact, my Pearson colleague Chuck Eberle, who is the Product Owner for Pearson's Digital Assessment Library for Schools, told me that we’ve had steady adoption rates, including by many of the largest school districts, since we launched our digital library in 2017. 

How do you decide whether the DALS is right for your district? We’ve put together this guide to help you figure it out.

The pursuit of equity in education has an important ally in Pearson’s Digital Assessment Library for Schools (DALS), which is helping level the playing field and provide the best outcomes for all students. Throughout my 25-year career as a school psychologist, I've observed how subtle inequalities in testing can have a profound impact, inadvertently creating barriers and limiting the potential of students. 

While all schools strive for equality, it can be difficult when practitioners don’t have access to the most effective tests for their students’ needs, often due to budget constraints. Here’s how DALS helps solve four common scenarios practitioners face.

For educators and many families, the “real” new year comes in September. The start of a fresh school year brings a mixture of emotions for students, caregivers and school staff alike — excitement, anticipation and, sometimes, stress. Setting a positive tone at the beginning can help ease the transition back to school.

Digital assessments have emerged as a powerful tool for measuring student learning and understanding. They promote equity through fair and unbiased results while offering real-time feedback that allows educators to track student achievement and make timely adjustments for personalized assessment.

I would say that digital assessments — along with their robust scoring and interpretation capabilities — are the biggest game changers in the educational assessment industry to date. They’ve revolutionized how practitioners can gather data and engage with their students, all while reducing human error. 

As a former school psychologist, digital assessment was a powerful tool that would give me accurate and insightful results, allowing me to better collaborate with educators and families to support the overall well-being of the children I was working with. The time savings I gained from digital assessment enabled me to employ other extremely valuable skill sets, such as direct interventions with students and ongoing consultation with staff, parents, and administration.

Yet, as educators embrace the shift to these resources, facing the many choices available, the logistics involved in administration, and the best ways to analyze data for individual support can feel overwhelming. In my current role as a member of the K-12 education team for Pearson Clinical Assessments, I often work with educators to help them select the right digital assessment tools for their district’s unique needs. I also offer strategies for effective administration and results interpretation.

Here are some of the digital assessment benefits and best practices I regularly share in those discussions.