Education commissioner loses confidence in TNReady test vendor
Tennessee Education Commissioner Candice McQueen said Tuesday she has lost confidence in the vendor hired to operate the state's new standardized test after glitches Monday forced officials to halt the exam.
But no decisions have been made to move on from the vendor, which has a five-year contract with the state.
"We have doubts about them going forward," she said.
A technology failure from Measurement Inc. stopped the testing across Tennessee on Monday, the first day students were set to take the TNReady exam on a widespread basis.
The state's testing platform "experienced major outages across the state" because of network issues with Measurement Inc., who is contracted to administer the standardized exams, according to state officials. As a result, school districts will now take the paper version for Part I and Part II of TNReady.
Measurement Inc. President Henry Scherich said Tuesday in a written statement that he is disappointed by the education department's decision. The problem occurred because of a computer server issue preventing some students from logging into the online system, he said.
The most recent network issues join a list of problems with the Tennessee test as the state has moved away from its participation with the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, known as the PARCC online testing platform.
This also isn't the first time the state has had issues with technology and testing in recent years. Two years ago, the state had trouble releasing initial TCAP scores on time to districts.
Schools statewide have seen issues with how TNReady worked, including its use on iPads, over the past several months, much to the frustration of teachers and administrators. The state has worked to fix those issues before rolling out the new test, McQueen said.
TNReady tests halted, will be taken on paper
"What happened yesterday was something new," she said. "And that’s the problem, when new issues keep popping up, you lose the confidence in your ability to move to the online environment you desire."
Scherich said there is no issue with the functionality of the test, and the company successfully delivered tests to more than 2 million students last year in other states. He added that more than 1 million practice tests were administered to students in Tennessee this school year, and the company has fixed any functionality issues the state has requested.
"It always has been, and will continue to be, our goal to work with the Department of Education to provide the students and educators of Tennessee with an outstanding assessment program," Scherich said.
District leaders weren't happy Tuesday that the test won't be online this year. Others felt the test platform wasn't ready.
Metro Nashville Public Schools has added more computers and upgraded technology infrastructure to handle the test, said Fred Carr, chief operating officer.
"We are frustrated, that is the best word to describe it," Carr said. "It didn't go as planned, but we are glad for the technology that is now in our schools. We will move forward."
Williamson County Schools Director Mike Looney said administering an online test on that scale is complex.
"I think the warning signs were all there," Looney said.
The state Department of Education also will delay and extend the testing window for part of the exam, which will begin again on Feb. 22.
"This is an important item to note," McQueen said. "TNReady is still TNReady — the paper format was designed at the same time as the online format."
The state is reviewing what to do for those students statewide who finished or were in the middle of the online test.
Franklin Special School District's Kay Boan, supervisor of student performance, said students were about an hour into testing when the test began showing error messages. Metro Schools saw few issues.
"It's extremely disappointing," said Franklin Special School District Director David Snowden. "There's nothing we can do about it. We can complain and fuss, but it is what it is. It's paper and pencil, and we'll move forward with that."
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Online testing issues
Tennessee decided to move away from PARCC in 2014 because of pushback of Common Core State Standards.
Lawmakers and some parents argued Common Core State Standards infringed on the rights of the state and local districts to guide education standards. There was also plenty of confusion about the standards that led to backlash from parents and teachers.
For those using the consortiums, it has been a mixed bag.
Montana, which uses Common Core-aligned testing consortium Smarter Balanced, allowed for voluntary use of the tests in 2015 because of issues with server capacity, according to an Education Week report.
New Jersey uses PARCC and saw few issues during the test's rollout., according to the The Star Ledger newspaper.
Those consortiums had years to develop their tests, but Tennessee decided to go it alone in developing TNReady on a far quicker schedule.
The state hired Durham, N.C.-based Measurement Inc. after a competitive bidding process, and the company was the lowest bidder with the highest bid score, McQueen said.
Tennessee has paid the company $1.6 million toward its $108 million contract.
State Rep. Antonio Parkinson, D-Memphis, was critical Tuesday of Republican lawmakers' decisions over the past several years and how they handled the testing issue.
"In our zeal to distance ourselves from the federal government, these are the types of situations that may occur," he said. "And when these situations do occur, it’s the people that are being harmed. ... We need to slow down because right now we are operating out of emotion and not logic."
But the state has also had issues with its TCAP tests, especially two years ago during its release of initial test scores to districts. Districts hinge on those scores to issue grades for students.
At the time, the state said TCAP scores wouldn’t be ready to go on final report cards for many districts. The argument from many was that while more decisions are guided by testing, the state fell short on getting scores to schools in a timely manner.
Critical responses
The newest testing glitch will get plenty of attention in the coming weeks.
The Senate Education Committee will hold a hearing sometime next week on what occurred. The Senate Government Operations committee also will be invited to the hearing.
“What we’ll do is to inquire into the facts of what occurred and see how we can help the Department of Education and the vendor resolve those difficulties,” said education committee chairwoman Sen. Dolores Gresham, R-Somerville.
A few school boards, including Nashville and Knoxville, have called for the state not to use TNReady scores on teacher evaluations this year. The scores this year count as a smaller portion of evaluations, but may count for more if the scores benefit the teacher.
"This is showing the state’s inability to manage the shift to online testing," Metro Schools board member Will Pinkston said. "What does that mean about integrity of the test itself?"
The Sumner County Schools Board might join the other boards. School board Chairwoman Beth Cox said she will bring a resolution calling for the state to waive scores from teacher evaluations.
House Minority Leader Craig Fitzhugh, D-Ripley, said there's a possibility that legislation to exclude TNReady scores from teacher evaluations will be proposed.
"We think it could have bipartisan support," Fitzhugh said.
This is a corrected version. The original incorrectly stated the status of PARCC testing in New Jersey.
Reach Jason Gonzales at 615-259-8047 and on Twitter @ByJasonGonzales.