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Technology

Built for School Networks

Why the student assessments use very little bandwidth — and why that matters in classrooms where wireless coverage is uneven.

Laptops open on desks in a classroom, ready for students to begin an assessment

Built for real classrooms

Designed to place very little demand on your network

True Progress assessments are designed for the networks schools already have, including classrooms where wireless coverage may be weaker. The assessments use very little bandwidth, so an entire class can test simultaneously without placing a heavy demand on the network.

A wireless access point mounted on the ceiling of a bright classroom with laptops on tables below
Every device in the room connects through the same access point, so light-weight applications keep testing moving.

Why bandwidth matters

Thirty students share the same connection

School networks support many rooms and devices at the same time, and wireless coverage can vary across a building. Applications that load large videos, images, or other media place greater demands on that shared connection.

During an assessment, delays between items can interrupt the testing experience and create unnecessary troubleshooting for teachers. Reducing the amount of data each device needs reduces that demand on the network.

Diagram of a typical school network: internet connection into a network core with firewall, gateway and switches, distribution switches feeding wireless access points, and classrooms, learning commons, admin office and library full of student and staff devices
A typical school network. Every classroom device shares the same connection back to the data closet.

How light True Progress is

About 20 kilobits per second per student

True Progress assessment items are deliberately kept light, using simple, fast-loading content rather than bandwidth-heavy media. Each student's device uses approximately 20 kilobits per second while testing.

A class of thirty students testing at the same time uses approximately 600 kilobits per second in total — less bandwidth than a single streaming video. This is particularly useful in classrooms with weaker wireless coverage or in schools where many devices share the same connection.