About BPE - Empowering future educators
The Boston Plan for Excellence (BPE) is a non-profit education organisation that offers a teacher preparation programme to train future educators for classrooms in Boston. As part of their admissions process, BPE assesses candidates’ subject knowledge across a wide range of disciplines including Mathematics, English, and Science.
BPE has been successfully delivering assessments on Synap since 2023 and Andrea, their Talent Manager, is continuously refining the process to ensure it evolves with their needs.
Switching from an outdated and time consuming platform
BPE initially conducted all their exams in person and on paper**,** a traditional method that was inefficient. With the onset of COVID-19, they were forced to quickly shift to an online approach. However, the platform was clunky, inefficient, and difficult to manage, creating issues for candidates and staff.
They needed a modern, reliable and user-friendly online exam platform that could support remote assessments and save time and resources.
“We were doing that all in person…super old school. Then during the pandemic, we had to transition it all online, and it was super clunky and very time consuming and took a lot of people resources.”
Finding a cost effective, accessible and scalable online assessment solution
During their search for a robust online exam solution, BPE discovered Synap. The platform stood out for its user friendly interface, flexible exam delivery options, and strong proctoring features while also being cost-effective for a non-profit organisation.
“We're a nonprofit, we don't have a huge budget, so (the price point) was appealing to us.”
Synap's commitment to continuous improvement and frequent feature updates also made a lasting impression.
“There’s a tonne of functionality…I feel like every time I use it, there's something new! You're constantly iterating and adding improvements.”
Responsive support and easy adoption
BPE’s onboarding experience with Synap was smooth and well-supported right from the start. Andrea described the process as “super smooth” and highlighted the team’s helpfulness and kindness throughout.
“Everyone was super helpful! Anytime I had a question, I felt like someone was available... I was really impressed by the responsiveness and kindness of everyone I've interacted with.”
The help documentation also played a key role in the easy adoption of the platform. As Andrea mentioned:
“There’s a tonne of things you can read on your own to learn yourself.”
In addition to the clear and helpful guides, any queries were quickly resolved through responsive customer support - whether via chatbot, email, or video calls - further reinforcing the positive experience.
Intuitive features for flexible online exams
Synap provided BPE with an intuitive and scalable platform that improved their admissions exam process. The platform offered a variety of features that enables BPE to deliver high-quality assessments while significantly reducing administrative overhead.
Diverse question types
Synap supports both multiple choice and written response question types, aligning with BPE’s diverse subject needs allowing them to test candidate knowledge in different ways. This flexibility ensures assessments are tailored to suit a variety of learning objectives and subject matters.
Efficient grading
Synap’s marking dashboard allows for easier grading of assessments, saving time and eliminating the previous paper-based process of scanning, uploading, and manually sharing completed exams. External graders, who are content experts, are invited to the system to mark the exams directly on the platform.
“We outsource the grading to content experts... they have had a really great experience. The amount of time saved is incredible!”
Flexible exam scheduling
Candidates can take assessments anytime and anywhere with Synap’s exam scheduling feature, removing the need for in-person testing. This makes the process far more accessible, especially for those balancing other commitments or living in remote areas.
“(Synap’s) made it a lot more accessible for candidates, because instead of having to be in person, they could take it any time they wanted, any time they were available.”
Accessibility
The ability to add extra time enabled BPE to accommodate candidates who might need additional time for accessibility reasons. This feature helps ensure a fair and inclusive assessment experience for all learners.
Exam cloning
Andrea highlighted the exam cloning feature as a significant time-saver. Once an exam was built, it could be effortlessly duplicated for future use, streamlining repeat delivery without rebuilding the exam from scratch.
“I really like being able to clone exams. That's made it super easy as we want to improve our assessments.”
Bulk candidate uploads
Synap’s CSV user import functionality made it simple to enrol large cohorts of candidates all in one go, which saved time and improved efficiency during peak admission times. It also reduced the risk of manual errors, ensuring a smoother enrolment process.
Lockdown mode
BPE made use of Synap’s lockdown browser feature, using it in a minimally invasive way to add a layer of professionalism and security to their exams. Any attempts to navigate away from the exam are flagged as breaches and pauses the exam, which discourages cheating. This allowed BPE to balance candidate comfort with exam integrity.
“We like the proctoring features - it's just super intuitive and very easy…It seemed to add a touch of professionalism.”
Faster processes, greater accessibility, and real-world impact
Since adopting Synap in 2023, BPE has experienced a significant transformation in how they deliver and manage assessments. Candidates can now complete assessments at a time and place that suits them, dramatically improving accessibility.
“We have really, really positive feedback... it's made it a lot more accessible for our candidates, for people to be able to take it anywhere, anytime.”
Staff have also benefited from streamlined workflows and intuitive tools such as the marking dashboard and bulk uploads, which have reduced workload. These efficiencies have helped BPE improve internal processes and make better use of their time:
“From an organisational perspective, it’s saved a tonne of time so that we've been able to use that time in other ways. It's really important to be able to use our time as wisely and effectively as possible.”
Synap’s continuous platform improvements have further supported BPE in refining their assessments and identifying strong candidates. By making it easier for people to apply to become teachers, the platform contributes to improved educational outcomes in public schools.
