It all started when…
Total Educational Solutions in Technologies, Inc. (T.E.S.T., Inc.)
Total Education Solutions in Technology, Inc. (T.E.S.T., Inc.) was founded by Liz Cunningham in 1999 as a Montana based woman owned company. T.E.S.T. consults closely with Montana schools to research and provide only the best innovative technology. T.E.S.T. is committed to helping schools and educators evaluate, implement and integrate the best innovative educational technology to empower students to discover new understanding and attain individual success in efficient and safe environments. T.E.S.T.’s solutions are always focused on what is best for students!
T.E.S.T., Inc was created as an educational training company. After researching effective training and teaching strategies, T.E.S.T. purchased a SMART Board to use for training. Through the effectiveness of creating dynamic and engaging training using the SMART Board and the interest from school districts in purchasing and implementing the technology into their classrooms, T.E.S.T. became a SMART Authorized Reseller for Montana. T.E.S.T. has organized state-wide technology conferences, provided regional training events, local technology workshops, on-site visits and individual teacher support over the past 18 years.
In 2001 through 2004, T.E.S.T. was contracted by the University of Montana to develop and implement leadership and technology training to Montana school administrators through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation State Technology Challenge Grant. T.E.S.T. assisted schools in completing a grant required on-line assessment – Taking a Good Look at Instructional Technology (TAGLIT). Through this project, the Montana Office of Public Instruction (OPI) adopted TAGLIT as its state technology assessment for Title II, Part D funding. In 2005, T.E.S.T. acquired the rights to TAGLIT from the Gates Foundation and administered the on-line assessment nationally for K-12 school districts for many years.
In 2003, Liz Cunningham was selected by OPI to serve as a Five-Year Comprehensive Education Plan facilitator. Through her work on this project, she coordinated a group of eleven school districts in eastern Montana to form a technology consortium and then wrote and submitted a Partnerships for Student Achievement Through Technology (PSATT) competitive technology grant for high-need school districts funded by Enhancing Education Through Technology (Ed Tech) Title II, Part D of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act as Amended by the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001. The Eastern Montana Technology Education Consortium (EMTEC) was awarded its first round of funding from 2003-2005 as one of six funded grants. Liz Cunningham served as the EMTEC Grant Director.
In 2005, T.E.S.T. coordinated groups of schools in 4 regional areas to submit for the second round of PSATT grant Title II, Part D competitive technology grants. All four grants (EMTEC, ACE, LIFT, and M7) were awarded funding from 2005-2008. As project director, Liz implemented two Intel Tech to the Future research-based programs – the Essentials Course and Teaching, Thinking with Technology. T.E.S.T coordinated all facets of the project including technology professional development, lesson development, mentoring, assessment, evaluation, and project partnerships.
In 2007, T.E.S.T. partnered with Hellgate Elementary School District to pilot a project combining a variety of technology tools and on-going professional development that had an immediate & direct impact on teaching and learning in the classroom with a specific focus to increase student scores on the Montana CRT math assessment. The project was implemented in phases. T.E.S.T. initially provided training for teachers to implement “clickers” to assess student knowledge. T.E.S.T. facilitated teams of grade-level teachers to create common math assessments aligned to their textbook and Montana content standards. The teacher created assessments were administered with the clickers and the student data to a platform that allowed administrators and teachers the ability to instantaneously determine what concepts students did not understand and developed an intervention to address the academic area of deficiency. SMART Boards were used as instructional devices to deliver these interventions through interactive engaging lessons. Backed by research, Hellgate Elementary also implemented Audio Enhancement Systems into their classrooms. Learning begins with hearing and hearing leads to attention and on-task behavior. All students were able to equally hear the lessons being presented and teachers found that they had less vocal fatigue at the end of the day. Hellgate Elementary’s NCLB state assessment math test scores increased significantly over the following couple of years.
T.E.S.T. is proud to represent companies that are pioneers in their fields and are always leading the way with innovative advancements. SMART was the founder of interactive boards in the classroom and continues to lead the industry with their new SMART Displays with IQ and collaborative SMART Learning Suite software. Audio Enhancement was not only the first company to implement audio systems in the classroom but continues to incorporate the needs of schools and has added the SAFE (Security Alert for Education) System into their teacher microphones, has the ability to add video cameras into their systems and use View Path to record, store, and share video for instructional solutions, and now provides a reliable school-wide communication solution that helps organize students, strengthens situational outcomes and can even help save lives with their Intercom, Paging, and Bells Solution. T.E.S.T. has also recently added Avigilon Security Solutions to our product offerings as they offer the best high definition video cameras that include cutting edge analytics that help prevent incidents instead of just reviewing them after the fact. Their surveillance cameras also integrate with their access control system, offering solutions that provide the security our students deserve to have. Students are the reason T.E.S.T. has evolved into much more than a training company. We carefully research and offer only the best solutions for schools and provide ongoing consulting and support.