Dartmouth's school district is entering the future of standardized testing.

On Monday night, educational technology director Jonathan Galishaw gave the school committee an update on PARCC testing—the replacement for MCAS instituted last spring—in the district.

Quinn Elementary has participated in the computer-based testing for the last two weeks, while the other three public elementary schools have simultaneously taken handwritten versions.

Over 16 classes in grades three, four, and five participated in PARCC testing sessions for English Language Arts. The mathematics portion of PARCC testing will commence on Tuesday, May 10.

Galishaw deemed it a "great success" despite overheating computers. After students and faculty became accustomed to these issues, they were able to quickly recover from and resume the tests after machines restarted, Galishaw said.

The kids adapted quickly to the computers, boding well for the district's transition to full computerized testing by 2019, Galishaw said. The district hopes to have all the other elementary schools participate in computerized testing next year. However, the committee voiced concern that the schools might not be adequately staffed to handle simultaneous standardized testing in the event of technical difficulties.

Computer use becomes limited for grades not participating in testing during PARCC testing month, committee member Chris Garth said. All of the elementary schools have laptop carts, and Quinn is the additionally equipped with a permanent computer lab.

Galishaw suggested that schools could benefit from investing in Chromebook carts for each grade in the district. Battery life for Chromebook is excellent and they proved to be much more practical than iPads or other laptops, Galishaw said.

Though students took more time to situate themselves for computerized testing than for written testing, the overall experience of videos and colorful images in the computerized testing was appreciated, said Galishaw.

Galishaw also noted that, overall, the ELA testing was completed faster than in past years.