In a little more than a week, students in schools across Nebraska will sit down at computers and desks and take part in a statewide reading pilot test.

The test will take place over three weeks starting April 13 and will involve nearly all of Nebraska's 254 school districts, as well as nearly 140,000 students in grades 3-8 and 11.

The massive enterprise is the culmination of a nearly two-year effort to revise state reading standards and develop the statewide reading assessment.

And while the results won't count, the pilot test will help state education officials better fashion the actual reading assessment, which they plan to roll out officially in spring 2010.

"Nebraska schools are pretty ready," said Pat Roschewski, director of statewide assessment for the Nebraska Department of Education. "I'm very impressed. They are adjusting."

Last year, the Legislature voted to use statewide tests in reading, math and science instead of the STARS system, which allowed school districts to develop their own assessments to determine whether their students met state standards.

The new statewide reading assessment is scheduled to be implemented in the 2009-10 school year, followed by math the following year and science the year after that.

State legislators didn't require Nebraska schools to take a practice test this spring, but state education officials decided the practice test would help them determine the ability of schools to handle a statewide test.

State education officials are asking schools to take the pilot test between April 13 and May 1. Schools have the option of letting students take the test online or on paper.

An online practice test has been available to the public since March 13, as well as a mini-test that can be downloaded and printed.

"These are accessible to anyone," Roschewski said.

But, she added, the sample and pilot tests should not be judged for their content.

"It's not the actual test students will be taking," she said.

So what does it take to get students in nearly 1,250 different buildings literally on the same page?

State education officials have trained nearly 1,000 school administrators and teachers to prepare them to administer the pilot reading test, Roschewski said.

"It's been extensive," she said.

Much of that training involved protecting testing materials, which must be put under lock and key within schools, and developing the technology necessary to allow for online testing.

Roschewski said about 94 school districts already do their local testing online. She said the number of districts that do online testing for statewide assessments will determine how much money the state must eventually spend on printing costs for paper tests.

Valorie Foy, director of instruction for Crete Public Schools, said the school plans to have one class each from grades 3-5 and all of grade 6 take the online test, while all of the school's other students will take the paper test.

"We have enough computers to do it," Foy said. "We believe we won't have any problems."

Teresa Frields, director of assessment and curriculum support for Nebraska City Public Schools, said her school plans to take the online test in grades 3-5 and 11 and the paper test in grades 6-8.

"It's a way for us to look at the logistics of giving the test," she said.

She said it hasn't been easy preparing for the test, which requires technology updates that can be difficult for small schools to implement.

"That becomes a huge issue for a school," she said.

The test also will require the school to rotate students in and out of its computer labs. At the middle school, where there are as many as five sections per grade but only one computer lab with 25 computers, students will have to cycle through the lab almost constantly.

And that will prevent other students from using the computers for other purposes.

"It's not convenient because we don't have a computer for every kid," she said.

But not taking the test isn't an option, she said.

"It's in the best interest of our kids," Frields said.

Reach Kevin Abourezk at 473-7225 or kabourezk@journalstar.com.