We were looking for a solution that could meet the needs of this unique student population. Flexibility that would allow easy customization was critical, because creating assessments accessible to the population we serve requires careful design work and easy adaptability. With TAO, we can customize at a deeper level, such as presenting reading passages in a manageable format and allowing students to navigate through content simply and flexibly. TAO also allows users to print out items if necessary. This degree of customization and flexibility allows us to anticipate the success of students with significant cognitive disabilities. We are pleased to have found a solution that met these challenges.

I really like the degree of control TAO gives us. When I worked with test delivery providers in the past, changes could often take weeks. However, because TAO is an online assessment platform, and we’re the ones running everything from the backend, changes can be immediate.

TAO didn’t just satisfy our need for Open Source. It’s also proven to be reliable and easy to use. We’re delighted to have found an assessment solution that our entire team finds easy to embrace.

We chose to work with TAO because we were excited to find a web-based technology that fit our needs. We quickly saw the potential for TAO to help us in a variety of ways. We already have made plans to use TAO to train not only cashiers, but customer service reps as well.

It makes perfect sense to further leverage TAO for the language proficiency exams as it allows multimedia and can potentially eliminate the need for live speakers for the administration of the listening component. It’s the ideal solution to this logistical nightmare. Now that we know that online administration works for us, the plan is to leverage the audio recording Portable Custom Interaction (PCI) feature for the listening component. We look forward to putting the entire Spanish LOTE exam online next year and rolling it out to multiple schools.

TAO’s history of success with similar projects made it an easy choice for the Comenius Program. Its Open Source nature, support of multiple languages, and easy access made it the perfect solution for our target population.

TAO, as a product out of the box, gives a wide variety of possibilities. The support provided by TAO via email or forum always delivers a solution to almost any problem we have encountered.

Now that we can use TAO to build a brand new item bank with richer, more complex items.

The beauty of TAO is the inherent adaptability of its myriad features. Our students had a coherent user experience, despite the reality that we used three different systems. From lesson content to item authoring to test delivery, we were able to rely on TAO for its fluid interoperability and integration. After conducting a broad search, we remain unaware of any platforms other than TAO that can offer this level of usability, flexibility, and freedom through QTI compliance and Open Source.