SCIENCE
PASSION
TECHNOLOGY
School Start Screening Tool
edMedia, July 2021
Paul Krassnig, Markus Ebner, Martin Ebner

Motivation for the project
• Introduction of a new screening method in Austrian schools in the future
• Announced by the Federal Ministry of Education in January of 2020
• Used to assess children before entering school as well as in first and
second grade
• Available as paper-pencil and digital screening
• Mobile app for iOS and Android tablets
edMedia, July 2021
Paul Krassnig, Markus Ebner, Martin Ebner
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School Start Screening Tool
• Completely new screening method
• Automatic evaluation of results at the end of each screening
• Cooperation with University of Graz and University of Vienna
• Designed assignments’ underlying structure
• Developed calculations for evaluation
• Further requirements:
• Offline functionality
• Different screenings for different schools
• Downloadable Excel file containing all collected screening results
edMedia, July 2021
Paul Krassnig, Markus Ebner, Martin Ebner
3

Analysis of Existing Screenings
• Today: multiple screenings to choose from
• Most screenings only available as paper-pencil screening
• Some also provide digital versions
• Analysis of existing screenings should show:
• Similarities
• Best practices
edMedia, July 2021
Paul Krassnig, Markus Ebner, Martin Ebner
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ELFE 1-6
• Available as paper-pencil or digital screening(!)
• Makes use of a child-friendly graphical character
• Motivates children
• Gives verbal instructions and feedback
• Uses audio files for instructions and feedback
edMedia, July 2021
Paul Krassnig, Markus Ebner, Martin Ebner
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ELFE 1-6 – Reading Speed Subtest
edMedia, July 2021
Paul Krassnig, Markus Ebner, Martin Ebner
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Design and Structure of App
• Children at preschool age do not have necessary skills in reading and
writing
• How to communicate assignment’s task to children?
• Make use of a visual language
• How to enable children to perform input?
• Make input options as intuitive as possible
• Children should stay motivated for several minutes
• Wrap screening into a, for the child interesting, frame-story
• Make use of a child-friendly graphical character
edMedia, July 2021
Paul Krassnig, Markus Ebner, Martin Ebner
7

School Start Screening App
• Software was implemented during employment at University of Graz
• Continuous feedback from psychologists
• App makes use of local SQL database
• Solves offline functionality requirement
• Central web application and API
• Possible to assign different screenings to different schools
• Possible to download Excel File containing results
edMedia, July 2021
Paul Krassnig, Markus Ebner, Martin Ebner
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The App’s Frame Story
• Poldi, the elf, is
looking for a treasure
• Child helps Poldi by
solving assignments
edMedia, July 2021
Paul Krassnig, Markus Ebner, Martin Ebner
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Single Choice Assignments
• Phonological
Awareness
• Knowledge of
Letters & Number
Recognition
edMedia, July 2021
Paul Krassnig, Markus Ebner, Martin Ebner
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Single Choice Assignments
• Comparison of
Numbers
• Quantity
Comparison
edMedia, July 2021
Paul Krassnig, Markus Ebner, Martin Ebner
11

Supervisor Assisted Assignments
• Screening supervisor is in charge of the whole screening process
• Usually, one the school’s teachers
• Input performed by screening supervisor
• Start with warning prompting to place tablet in front of child
• After alert view is confirmed, assignment starts
• At end of assignment, another warning asks to place tablet again in front
of child
edMedia, July 2021
Paul Krassnig, Markus Ebner, Martin Ebner
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Quantity Knowledge
edMedia, July 2021
Paul Krassnig, Markus Ebner, Martin Ebner
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Arithmetic Problems
edMedia, July 2021
Paul Krassnig, Markus Ebner, Martin Ebner
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Repeat Numbers
• With supervisor
• Repeat the numbers from the
audio file
• Supervisor has to click the button
for “correct” or “incorrect”
edMedia, July 2021
Paul Krassnig, Markus Ebner, Martin Ebner
15

RAN and Sorting Assignment
• With Supervisor
• speak out loud the names of the
objects seen in the image /
printed on a separate sheet of
paper
edMedia, July 2021
Paul Krassnig, Markus Ebner, Martin Ebner
16

Automatic Evaluation
• Considers all results of current screening run
• Calculates level of development in 7 different educational subjects
• Calculations given by developmental psychologists
• Make use of specified cut-off values
• 3 different levels of development:
• Slight special educational needs
• Obvious special educational needs
• A checkmark representing no educational needs
edMedia, July 2021
Paul Krassnig, Markus Ebner, Martin Ebner
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Automatic Evaluation
edMedia, July 2021
Paul Krassnig, Markus Ebner, Martin Ebner
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Web Application
• Only accessible to authenticated admins (University of Graz, University of
Vienna)
• Features to:
• Create and edit schools
• Create, edit and assign screenings
• Download Excel file with uploaded results
• Developed using Zend Framework (PHP)
• MySQL as database
• Doctrine ORM (Object–relational mapping)
• Deployed on Linux Server
edMedia, July 2021
Paul Krassnig, Markus Ebner, Martin Ebner
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API
• Part of the web application
• Also developed using Zend Framework (PHP)
• Processes HTTP requests to:
• Authenticate schools to login to the mobile app
• Download assigned screenings
• Upload collected screening results
• HTTP-body in JSON
• JSON Web Tokens (JWT) for authentication
• Automated API testing using Postman
edMedia, July 2021
Paul Krassnig, Markus Ebner, Martin Ebner
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Evaluation
• Evaluation happened through:
• Interviewing the developmental psychologists who were in continuous
contact with schools
• Report of the Austrian Ministry of Education
• Based on survey with involved schools
• First screenings with final app in September 2019
• More than 800 children were assessed
• In 25 Austrian schools
edMedia, July 2021
Paul Krassnig, Markus Ebner, Martin Ebner
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Evaluation
• Evaluation basically very positive
• Assignments were implemented as required and were very intuitive
• Teachers would choose app over paper-pencil screening
• Children did get along very well with the app and had fun using it
• Things that could have been done better:
• Some technical problems with the prototype
• Web application had set some restrictions
edMedia, July 2021
Paul Krassnig, Markus Ebner, Martin Ebner
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Conclusion
• Better educational support for child due to new screening
• Step to more digitized education in Austria
• App saves paper-work and is more attractive than paper-pencil
• If more time available, more automated tests
• Instead used bug reporting software in mobile apps
• More functionality in central web application
• Test screenings, central file manager and more
edMedia, July 2021
Paul Krassnig, Markus Ebner, Martin Ebner
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edMedia, July 2021
Paul Krassnig, Markus Ebner, Martin Ebner
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Platzhalter Abschlussfolie
edMedia, July 2021
Paul Krassnig, Markus Ebner, Martin Ebner
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