Keenville: Georgia's Game-Based Assessment for Grades 1 and 2
Keenville is a set of minigames that the Georgia Department of Education built so that first and second graders are assessed in literacy and math while they play. FableVision Studios, its developer, now lists 31 minigames.
Updated
What Keenville is and who built it
The Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE) developed Keenville with the Georgia Center for Assessment at the University of Georgia and FableVision Studios. The story takes place on Planet Peachy Keen, where the Keens, the planet's inhabitants, argue and scare the Peachlings away. Students play minigames to bring them back and restore balance.
The department's reasoning was that traditional tests are not developmentally appropriate for young learners and capture only one moment in time. A game-based assessment, it argued, is research-based and adds value for students, educators and parents.
Each game has several levels. A student starts at the first level of the current grade, and after a round of play or a set number of items a leveling decision places the child at the right level for continued play, according to rules specific to each game.
The 2019 rollout
After legislation added testing for some of Georgia's youngest public school students, the assessment became available to first and second graders in all public schools at the start of the 2018-2019 school year and was moving beyond its pilot phase. It was developed with 2.5 million dollars appropriated by the state legislature.
In early 2019 the suite had 10 online games out of a planned 31, 16 for English language arts and 15 for math. About 200 schools in 76 districts, roughly half the districts in the state, were using them.
What is true today
FableVision Studios keeps a Keenville page in its portfolio. It calls the project a literacy and math game-based assessment for grades 1 and 2, built in HTML5 with the Georgia Department of Education and the Georgia Center for Assessment. The page says the assessment has completed two phases of expansion, has 31 minigames and came with a linking study involving thousands of Georgia public school children.
It adds three aims: kids feeling they are playing a game, not taking a test; teachers getting data they can read like a traditional test; and districts and the state receiving all the generated data for deeper analysis.
The assessment is meant for classroom use through schools, and no public play link was found.
Questions about Keenville
What is Keenville?
A game-based assessment for first and second graders in Georgia, covering English language arts and math through minigames set on Planet Peachy Keen.
How many games does Keenville have?
FableVision Studios lists 31 minigames. In early 2019, 10 were available.
Who made Keenville?
The Georgia Department of Education, the Georgia Center for Assessment at the University of Georgia and FableVision Studios.
Can families play Keenville at home?
No public play link was found. The project is described as an assessment delivered through schools.