Feelings mixed on this year's testing
The first day of STAAR testing was cancelled after thousands of students across the state faced technical issues.
Many students were kicked out of tests, had trouble submitting answers, were unable to log in or had slow loading times. IT teams at some schools worked with the Texas Education Agency and the vendor, Educational Testing Services, to remedy the issue before deciding to cancel the test altogether for the day.
Some schools are still doing paper tests and were unaffected by the system’s glitches.
TEA released a statement Tuesday, saying, “We understand the frustration this has caused students, parents, teachers and administrators. What happened today is completely unacceptable. ETS experienced problems with their database system, which are in the process of being corrected. The 2021 online administration of STAAR will be ETS’ last for the state of Texas. Beginning next year, Cambium Assessment will be taking over these critical testing functions to ensure that users have a seam less online testing experience moving forward. All involved in Public Education in Texas should expect better than what they have experienced today; we are working to ensure that our students do not experience future testing issues.”
Dr. Greg Bower, superintendent of Como-Pickton CISD, shared that 30 students were affected by the glitches last Tuesday but were able to continue with testing the next day.
Micheal Lamb, superintendent of Sulphur Springs ISD, said fourth grade, seventh grade and ninth grade students were affected. Fourth grade finished last Wednesday, ninth grade took their tests last Friday and seventh grade plans to finish their testing this week.
Students were not allowed to take the test remotely, which meant that students who opted for virtual learning because of COVID-19 concerns, showed up to campus or a secure testing site only to be sent home.
There will be no penalty for elementary and middle school students who don’t show up for testing or fail the test. Officials said that the test would not affect students’ ability to move up to the next grade.
Students whose testing was disrupted will be able to resume testing at any time, with the amount of time left in the session, until May 7. According to a TEA message, students will not lose any entered answers or partial responses and can resume where they left off.
In December 2020, Cambium Assessments was awarded a three year contract to administer, score and provide online reports for future testing. Tests will be developed and created by Pearson, another testing company.
TEA plans to transition to fully online testing by the 2022-2023 school year.
The TEA has had past issues with ETS. In 2016, more than 14,000 students faced similar difficulties in ETS’ first year as the testing provider, which caused thousands of tests to be voided. ETS was fined $5.7 million for damages by TEA and ordered to spend $15 million for improvements to the online system and test shipping.
In 2018, the state was forced to throw out 71,000 tests after more server problems caused crashes during April and May testing windows. The state again fined ETS $100,000 for connectivity issues.
MIXED FEELINGS ABOUT TESTING
Even before the issues, educators and legislators were divided about whether students should even be testing this year. Some argue that it was wrong to make children sit for these highly stressful tests during an already difficult school year upended by the pandemic. Some have also said the test takes up precious class time.
Others, including education commissioner Mike Morath, countered that the test results are needed to see how much students have fallen behind so that educators can combat any loss of knowledge.
Bower shared his frustration with the educational system in Texas, saying, “The state is well aware of educator concerns that have been voiced thought the state, asking that we do not have state testing this year as a result of the chaotic nature that the pandemic has placed on our schools.
“After the other day’s testing debacle, the testing situation has not only shown weaknesses in the state model for a push for mandating online testing in the near future, but is also caused another set of stresses to an already fragile education system,” Bower continued. “More and more teachers are becoming increasingly frustrated with unrealistic expectations from the state…Fewer and fewer teachers are entering the profession each year while a dramatic increase in experienced teachers leaving the profession continues its constant rise.”
Lamb gave his opinion about testing, stating, “I understand the thinking behind having us take the test, it might be a good thing to see where our students are after the things that have gone on this past year. I am just not sure that we will get an accurate picture because of the stress that these students have had to endure the past year.”