Scantron

Alternative

Out with the old...

Scantron, a staple in educational testing since its inception in the 1970s, has become increasingly viewed as outdated in the modern educational landscape. One major reason for this perception is the machinery required to run a testing experience for a Scantron test. The core piece of machinery is the optical mark recognition scanner. This device reads the filled-in bubbles on the Scantron sheets by detecting the marks made by the No. 2 pencil. The OMR scanner processes the sheets, capturing the responses and translating them into digital data for analysis.
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Along with the scanner, a computer is used to interface with the OMR scanner. It runs special software necessary to collect, process, and analyze the data from the scanned sheets. The software can generate reports and provide insights based on the students' responses.
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Finally, the initial cost of the OMR scanner is extremely high. If a school spends a small fortune on an OMR scanner, they will continue to pay for the ongoing maintenance fee for such a machine. The start up costs alone start in the thousands of dollars range...