If the results apply to older students, Mr. Russell said, the questions raised by the study apply to college tests as well. Within colleges themselves, you have final exams and doctoral examinations, and a lot of those are written. If you want to get accurate measures of what students can do, you have to ask, should professors start thinking about if students should have the option of writing on computers. Wayne J. Camara, vice president for research and development at the College Board, said the board has studied the issue over the past few years. He said the results of the Boston College study were most relevant to those Advanced Placement exams that include a 90-minute essay portion, and the SAT II writing tests, which are required by many competitive colleges.
Students use paper and pencil on both tests.
But for the time being, he said, a shortage of resources makes that impossible. In a short statement, David P. Driscoll, commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Education, also said the department couldn't put the results to use for some time. It will take quite a while before it can be implemented. Gregory G. Nadeau, chief technology officer at the department, said he doesn't remember how talks of the report's release were negotiated. But he said that the report might overstate the underachievement of computer-savvy students.