Testing glitches could threaten state’s ability to gather performance data

By Ian Whitaker

Tuesday, April 21, 2015 | 12:03 p.m.

Ongoing problems with Nevada’s standardized tests could set the state’s accountability measurements back at least a year, officials fear.

State Superintendent Dale Erquiaga said Tuesday that if students continue to experience problems taking the Smarter Balanced Assessment, school districts may not be able to collect the data required for programs like the state's star ranking system.

“We don’t have an infinite amount of time and schools don’t have an infinite amount of tries,” Erquiaga said.

Problems facing the Clark County School District are currently causing the biggest worry. The state’s largest school district ran into problems Monday morning and decided to suspend the test for a full day on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the end of the testing window on June 12 is slowly approaching.

Measured Progress, the testing company contracted by the state to administer the test, has been under fire in three states where its servers have been unable to handle the large number of students simultaneously taking the tests.

Problems began last Tuesday and affected students in 3rd through 8th grades statewide in Nevada, Montana and North Dakota. Erquiaga suspended testing for two days to give the company time to repair the problem, but the issues resurfaced again on Monday.

“Nevada was ready. Our computers were ready,” Erquiaga said. “There’s this incredible amount of frustration [at schools] which I share.”

The NDE is asking the Legislature to temporarily suspend the state’s school accountability metrics this year because of the new test, but the ongoing technical hiccups could also cause problems in the future.

Certain data that’s collected on students and schools during the testing period is used as a baseline for Nevada’s accountability systems. But with many students and schools unable to take the test or forced to take the pen and paper version, that data may not be complete this year.

And since the accountability systems function primarily by tracking and comparing school progress from year to year, it could take another year of problem-free testing to get them back on track.

“I’m very worried about the impact on accountability,” Erquiaga said.

There currently is no time frame from Measured Progress on when the technical issues will be fixed. Erquiaga, who is in constant contact with the company as well as the U.S. education department, said he hadn’t been given an update from the company as of Tuesday morning.

Measured Progress, whose contract with Nevada expires at the end of this year, could be on its way out of Nevada after ten years here. Erquiaga wouldn’t say whether the state plans to dump them, but said they are taking bids.

“We will be looking for a testing vendor,” he said.