An empirical investigation of electronic student response systems in a K--12 school district: The relationship of ongoing assessment on student achievement

Student assessment has always been a core concept in our educational system in the United States as an evaluation tool and a grade-level promotion tool. However, with the passing of NCLB, student assessment has been elevated as the primary indicator of school achievement and is the primary method used for school accountability (U.S. Department of Education, 2006). Consequently, the quest to improve educational practices has led many educators to explore the use of electronic student response systems in an effort to increase student achievement. This empirical case study is an evaluation of the impact of student response systems as they migrate from higher education to K--12 as an instructional aid that impacts student engagement, motivation, and achievement in the opinion of students and teachers.;In 2007, a district in the southeast United States provided electronic student response systems to their teachers. Specifically, the TurningPoint student response system (SRS) was selected due to its ease of use and seamless integration with Microsoft Office. The district provided a sample of this data to the researcher for analysis that included 5 middle school classes. Pre-test and post-test scores were analyzed using a dependent t-test, and frequencies and percentages were tabulated for the post integration teacher and student surveys.;The quantitative findings of this study were significantly positive for the use of electronic SRS. All of the 5 classes scored significantly higher on the post-test than on the pre-test. All 5 teachers who completed the post implementation survey responded in support of the SRS as a tool that promotes learning and improves their overall teaching effectiveness. All students reported that learning was more fun using the SRS.