Insourcing vs Outsourcing the Digital Assessment Solution

The Canadian Experience

When an assessment organization (ministry of education, assessment agency, state education department, etc.) decides to modernize its large-scale student assessment program, one of the initial questions to be addressed is whether to develop and maintain the digital assessment solution (i.e., the platform) in-house or to use the solution and services of an external service provider (vendor).

Over the past five years, five Canadian provinces (British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland and Labrador), two territories (Yukon and Northwest Territories), and the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada [CMEC]) opted to outsource, engaging an external technology partner to modernize their large-scale student assessment programs.

The insourcing vs outsourcing decision can be challenging to address, as many factors need to be considered. This article provides a summary of advantages and disadvantages (pros and cons) of each approach and provides the reasoning behind the decisions made by assessment organizations in Canada.

To learn about the considerations between insourcing and outsourcing digital assessment solutions, and to explore how Canadian jurisdictions are modernizing large-scale student assessments, read the full article at here