Despite assurances, statewide student testing once again delayed by technical glitches

By Ian Whitaker

Published Monday, April 20, 2015 | 12:50 p.m.

Updated Monday, April 20, 2015 | 4:44 p.m.

The Clark County School District, the 5th largest school in the country, said Monday that it would postpone testing on Tuesday due to the ongoing problems.

According to the Nevada Department of Education, a spike in students taking the Smarter Balanced Assessment (SBAC) this morning has caused login problems for a number of schools.

The computerized test, which officially rolled out this year in Nevada and a number of other states, first ran into problems last Tuesday. A large number of students taking the test in Nevada, Montana and North Dakota caused capacity issues in those states, stopping testing for most of last week.

Measured Progress, the testing company contracted by the state to administer the SBAC, said it believed it had solved those problems on Friday. They told state education departments that the problem was the result of a coding issue and would be cleared in time to resume full testing on Monday.

The problems this morning first started occurring between 9:15 a.m. and 9:45 a.m., a time when the state’s elementary students usually start taking the test, according to NDOE spokeswoman Judy Osgood. Around 27,000 students were able to take the test before the problems started.

State Superintendent Dale Erquiaga and his staff are coming up with a directive for school districts who are still experiencing testing problems.

The directive, expected to be issued later today, will establish what the state will consider adequate compliance with testing requirements. Both the state and the federal government require standardized testing.

“The last thing we want to do is require schools and educators to keep attempting and failing to the point beyond frustration,” Osgood said. “We don’t expect them to keep trying beyond the point that it doesn’t make sense.”

Erquiaga declared an official “irregularity” with the administration of the test on Friday. The move would not hold districts accountable for meeting the state testing requirements, but it doesn’t have any effect when it comes to federal requirements.

If federal officials decide Nevada didn’t comply with the testing requirements, millions of dollars in funding could be at stake.

Osgood said the NDOE believes it has done everything it possibly can to administer the test.

“We hope by clearly documenting our challenges and showing that schools … have gone through what we consider a good faith attempt, we hope that that’s going to be taken into consideration,” she said.

Osgood said the department has been in constant contact with Measured Progress and the U.S. Department of Education about the technical issues.

CCSD assistant superintendent Leslie Arnold said the last few days have been frustrating. Arnold and her staff have been doing whatever they can to avoid problems, including instructing schools to let only a few students login at a time to avoid stressing the system.

“It’s been a challenge for our schools,” she said. “We need the vendor to get this right.”

Still on the table is possible legal action against the testing company. Erquiaga said late last week that he was exploring possible “legal remedies” against Measured Progress due to the issues.

The department hasn’t said anything about it since, however.

The SBAC is no stranger to setbacks in Nevada. The state's technology infrastructure posed a problem before testing even began, particularly in rural schools. The SBAC requires an Internet connection and a computer to take.

The NDOE was forced to go into overdrive to address the problem of slow Internet and a lack of computers in counties like Elko. However, the problems were mostly addressed prior to the start of the testing window on March 30.