I am getting reports of computer servers crashing in various states. Whose nutty idea was it that all testing must be online? Was it to make data mining easier? Ir to enrich the testing companies and vendors of software and hardware?
News from Colleen Wood in Florida:
Colleen Doherty Wood
904/591.3207
50thNoMore.org / @50thNoMore
Diane – below is the email sent by our Commissioner of Education, Pam Stewart.
Pearson’s server apparently could not handle the number of children testing today. I guess it was a big surprise to them.
We have been warning for years, that Pearson and our state were not technologically ready for this move to online testing.
Today proved it. Across the state, students were kicked off the system and unable to test. Districts were told to wait for instructions while students just had to wait.
When will we talk about the emotional and psychological affect all of these “glitches” have on our children, who carry the weight of Jeb Bush’s entire accountability system on their shoulders?
Test scores from today will not be reliable, yet will be used to evaluate teachers and determine class placement.
In Florida, we are demanding a 3 year pause on the implementation of the new accountability system, which by all accounts, will be harder. If they can’t get it right this time, why should any of us trust them to get it right next year?
We have 67 counties in Florida. So far we know it has impacted 7 counties, but the day is young. We suspect there will be more.
From: Commissioner Stewart [Commissioner.Stewart@fldoe.org]
Sent: Tuesday, April 22, 2014 9:59 AM
Subject: Pearson Server Issue Affecting Testing
Good morning,
As some of you already know, Pearson is experiencing difficulty with a hosting provider this morning, which is causing issues with testing (both TestNav and TestHear) and accessing the PearsonAccess website for test management. The issue does not seem to be statewide, but several districts have reported issues.
If your district is experiencing difficulty with live testing, please suspend testing and wait to hear from our office. We do not currently have an estimated timeline from Pearson for when this issue will be resolved, but we will be in touch with updates/resolutions throughout the day. If your district is not experiencing issues, you may continue testing as scheduled as your district is likely not routing through the affected server.
Some of you have inquired about schedule extensions due to this issue. Once the problem is resolved, if you have schools that will need more time to complete testing beyond your district’s schedule, please let us know (in writing) and we will work with you to ensure that all students in your district have sufficient opportunity to test.
Sincerely,
Pam Stewart
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Appalling but not surprising.
LikeLike
Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Texas Education and commented:
WOW….Texas take notes please.
LikeLike
No surprise! I am waiting to see how ACT handles Alabama’s on-line Aspire testing. The county that I live in is the state’s largest school system and is scheduled to begin its on-line testing next week.
LikeLike
Pearson gets a failing grade for not being rigorous enough.
LikeLike
lol
LikeLike
Wonderful! Thanks for the laugh, Marianne!
LikeLike
High Five!!
LikeLike
Sadly, though, not one legislator at the state or federal level will stand up and, using the kinds of evaluations we are being subjected to, give Pearson a rating of Unsatisfactory or Needs Improvement. After all, who else is going to enrich their coffers the way Pearson does? Pearson will end up paying a fine for this that is the equivalent to the average person buying a coffee at Starbucks. Then they will go on their merry way and continue dismantling our education system for their own profit.
LikeLike
The companies were charging 1.7 BILLION in 2011 for the state tests alone in 3-8 and in high school. But that was just the cost for the paper tests themselves. That figure from the Brown University study doesn’t include a LOT of incidental costs–test prep materials, teacher and administrator time related to testing, reporting and data costs, etc.
And the Common Core testing, of course, is going to be a LOT more and includes breathtaking large outlays for computers.
Oh, it pays to be in the junk science testing biz!
Your tax dollars at work abusing kids.
LikeLike
Gee, I thought it was only the gubmint that screwed up.
LikeLike
It was the gubmint that screwed up… by contracting Pearson in the first place.
LikeLike
Well yes. But the “justification” for private contracting of government services is always that the gubmint is so incompetent.
LikeLike
Dienne: what you said!
😎
LikeLike
By my count, 15 counties with news reporting on testing failures.
LikeLike
A few years back Pennsylvania attempted a pilot with the 4sight tests (the PSSA practice/prep test) and it was a three-day disaster. I suspect that’s the reason that we skipped the full-on PARCC and went with our own Keystone exam, which is basically a paper PARCC.
LikeLike
I’m sure Pearson will get a bonus for their fine performance or they will blame the local schools….lol what a joke.
LikeLike
Oklahoma testing vendor McGraw Hill Crashed yesterday. 8100 students had their tests stopped repeatedly or shut down before they were completed. Last year was a debacle this year a debacle. Fun Fun Fun.
LikeLike
May they all crash for good.
LikeLike
Amen!
LikeLike
I second the Amen!!
LikeLike
Thank you, Brother Taylor. LOL
LikeLike
Has anyone noted that the State Ed. Commissioner, Pam Stewart, wants to be notified (in writing)? IN WRITING? What does this mean? No phone calls? Is this via Fax, Text, email, snail mail, website comments? And they will get back to you so you can continue your testing? I find it rather ironic.
LikeLike
This is not a surprise. The first thoughts I had about Common Core were 1.) How will they ensure proper internet connectivity and 2.) Who is going to correct these narrative-style tests?
LikeLike
Narrative-style tests will be scored by random folks, with any kind of a degree, who respond to Craigslist help wanted ads. It’s a highly selective, finely tuned operation. You’d think you’d want written tests scored by skilled writers, but you’d be wrong.
LikeLike
Bullseye.
LikeLike
The really good take-away is that this problem is not fixable within the life time of CCSS
LikeLike
Which, with any luck, will be very short.
LikeLike
amen to that
LikeLike
It happened a lot in Arizona when we first went to online testing. It was usually a district issue, which didn’t surprise those of us who had dealt with our IT department.
LikeLike
15 counties doesn’t sound like a “district issue”. In fact, it’s already been admitted that the problem is on Pearson’s end.
LikeLike
Same problems here in TN with our PARCC field tests a couple weeks back. What should have been two 50-minute tests for 3rd graders turned into an entire day in the computer lab. With the exception of lunch and two brief breaks, the third-graders spent their day sitting in front of computers. They did take their two tests, but the rest of the time was spent waiting for tech issues to be resolved.
LikeLike
My 5th grader tested the Ohio science tests online. I asked him about it and he said “we were the guinea pigs” completely matter-of-factly, because of course that’s what they are. I don’t think he minds, necessarily, but it’s nice to be asked to do a job rather than have it cloaked in this blizzard of sales talk.
Why not just say to them “you’re the guinea pigs, obviously, we’re not going to kid you about this”.
They would at least know that not all adults are completely insane 🙂
LikeLike
Not sure what is making me feel sick to my stomach right now. The testing itself? Pearson’s incompetence? The fact that it is coming to my state next? Oh my. Think I better go lie down.
LikeLike
And, you know, every teacher in every district has been expecting this since online testing has been considered. It is nuts.
We have had issues, for example, with Accelerated Reader online tests for years and with Success maker Math. They are having problems with the Ohio MAP tests. Computer systems get over-loaded. They crash. Data is lost. Kids have to do things over. This happens onost sites.
Just like with Healthcare.gov …I expected it to crash from overload!! Where ate the IT people who should be in front of, not following these crashes? Oh, they are probably overworked and expected to do the job of 5 employees. Efficiency isn’t about output. It is about saving money at the front and ignoring reality. The needs of the schools or consumers are not handled efficiently. Only the perceived earnings of the shareholders are taken into consideration.
I hope every person financially invested in the failure of public schools goes bankrupt. Unfortunately the “masterminds” are too wealthy to care.
LikeLike
All of these contracts should have strong penalties and liability for the provider for these types of rank failures. Sadly, they’re mostly give-aways.
LikeLike
Yep, mostly give aways.
Ahhh, the free market.
LikeLike
Don’t forget about opt-ing out of the field tests which will be given in June.
http://www.p12.nysed.gov/assessment/fieldtest/2014eiftassignments.xls
http://www.p12.nysed.gov/assessment/fieldtest/regentsftassignments-14.xls
Without the field test data, SED will not have questions for future operational tests. The field tests are the front end of the pipeline. In addition they are no-stakes for the students, teachers and schools. The students are basically unpaid labor for the test makers.
LikeLike
Whose nutty idea was it that all testing must be online?
Well, the call for all the testing to be done online was first given in the technology blueprint that Arne Duncan issued just after becoming Secretary of the Department for the Privatization of Education, formerly the USDE. But I don’t for a moment think that he was the source. Of course not. This was the plan from the Gates-Pearson-Achieve-CCSSO collaborative, part of the great transition to digital learning that they were envisioning.
And, of course, the Common Core was THE key component of that plan, for they needed a single national bullet list to tag all the learning software and online assessments to.
Of course, these people know so little about kids and education that it actually came as a big surprise to them that elementary school kids don’t have highly developed keyboarding skills. Or that kids would find using online tools to work out math problems a horrific added burden and distraction from the problems themselves.
Third graders being asked to type their responses.
But, hey, these are the same people who say in their “standards” that we are to teach foundational texts in American government in Grade 12, the grade which every high school in the U.S., just about, is doing British or World Literature (the American lit has LONG been traditionally an 11th-grade class). But these people were so completely clueless that they did not even know that.
LikeLike
These bozos know nothing about children, nothing about teaching, and nothing about the unreliable and substandard internet connectivity that characterizes much of our great nation.
LikeLike
Parents need to ask what is the purpose of online testing. What cognitive functions are being tested? Is it processing speed, visual spatial working memory, fluid intelligence,executive function, short term memory, attention allocation, visual motor co-ordination, visual ability, reading ability,numeracy ability??? All of these functions need to be considered when testing online. How does the stress of crashing computers effect all of these cognitive functions???
LikeLike
At least we’re seeing the disaster finally showing up. The crunch from ACA will come after the 2014 elections. Pearson:Common Core::Obama:ACA (remember those old timey analogy questions?)
LikeLike
These servers lack grit and can’t function when under stress.
LikeLike
Well, I guess we just need to see this as the opportunity that it is for those kids who have to take, all over again, the test they already took to show how gritful they are.
LikeLike
Did the computers crash during the testing at Lakeside School? How did they handle all the logistics at Sidwell Friends? What about the computers at the University of Chicago Lab School? Did they work?
Oh well, I’m sure there won’t be any problems with the SBAC testing.
LikeLike
LOL. Well said!
LikeLike
Utah has done all-online testing for several years now. It was a disaster at first, although it works better now. However, it does mean that we are locked out of the library and computer lab for six weeks while the testing is done. It’s so disgusting. The part that frustrates me is that the essays are graded by computer. How on EARTH can a computer grade essays?
LikeLike
One computerized grading program gave the Gettysburg Address a “D”. Then again, no one ever said that Lincoln was college ready.
LikeLike
The very idea is so repugnant on so many levels that I don’t even know where to begin. Only a very, very sick person who should not be allowed anywhere near a school should enlist a computer to grade essays. Such a person doesn’t understand that reading and writing are TRANSACTIONS in the minds of PEOPLE.
LikeLike
My son got a perfect score on his state writing test two years ago. I dearly love my son, but his writing at the time wasn’t the strongest. The only reason that I can think of was that he has a very high vocabulary and uses a lot of big words. The grading program seems to like that.
LikeLike
Crashing is expected.
What happens when PARCC and SBAC get HACKED?
LikeLike
I was wondering the exact same thing…. all their data evaporates.
LikeLike
I love it when these people overreach.
SBAC and PARCC may well prove to be the end of Ed Deform–the proof that everyone needs to see of just how horribly wrong the whole invariant, totalitarian standards-and-testing approach is.
So, more of this!
LikeLike
The Great Testing Disaster (Supernova) of 2015 is being previewed all around the country.
Its clear that no two states are even close to doing the same thing. The scale of this enterprise was beyond the capability of any group other than the US military.
CCSS can now officially be branded as a FAILURE.
A failure to create national standards
A failure to homogenize public K-12 education
A failure to implement sound and reliable computer based testing
A failure to sell the idea to the most important constituents – the parents
LikeLike
It would be amusing to watch the coming implosion of Ed Deform if not for all the damage that has been and will be done and if not for the devious ways in which the Deformers will resurrect their sick extrinsic punishment and reward model. One would have thought that ten years of the failure of NCLB would have taught that lesson. But no, we have to deal with the undead Son of NCLB, Common Core. One wonders, when this all blows up, what new form they will give this, for the oligarchs are not going to give up on implementing a command and control program from the top for the training of the children of the proles.
LikeLike
Son of son of . . . ?
Nine lives too many.
They have so much money invested in this can’t imagine them completely cutting their losses. Wont be easy to re-tool this mess.
And yes, people everywhere are growing very weary of this.
In the battle of intensity v. duration, Father ttime is undefeated.
LikeLike
well said, NY teacher!
LikeLike
Despite the impractical, cumbersome, non-authentic nature of assessing students in this way, we will do whatever it takes to make sure we subject your children to this system. Just let us know if you need more time to come to grips with your fate.
LikeLike
you hit the key word, there, Dan. These tests are not tests of reading and writing. Real reading and writing has almost nothing to do with what is done on these tests, and so they are not tests of real reading and writing. QED
They are, therefore, completely invalid. They do not measure what they are purporting to measure.
LikeLike
This doesn’t surprise me at all. In CA we are testing the SBAC. At my site we had to schedule the computer lab for 5 weeks to accomodate testing. My 3rd grade class had a problem on our third testing session. The students who had not completed the math test the day before were supposed to be able to go back to where they left off. Some of them were able to while others were not. It turns out that on day two of the test two versions of the test were available, but on day three only one version was available. So, if you were taking the other version of the test the day before you had to start all over again. A colleague had about half of her class unable to access the performance assessment, so the ended up not taking it. Fortunately, our scores won’t count this year.
LikeLike
NC has also had major problems with computers crashing during testing. During first semester exams, I was proctoring a CTE online exam. It took 45 minutes to find computers for all the students that would allow them to log on. After finally getting everyone into the system, students began the test. As the first ones finished, they were not able to upload their answers. We were then told to have students write their answers on a blank piece of paper. Then an administrator gave each student a bubble sheet and they transferred their answers again. One student who had extra time was bumped off the computer. It took the admin 15 minutes and two phone calls to get him back online to finish. This happened all over our county and our state. Is anybody surprised other than our illustrious legislators?
LikeLike
So teachers are fired and Pearson is kept? How ridiculous. Follow the money. It’s about money…period…not truly educating our young and helping them find their paths of passion and joy.
LikeLike
Have you seen this story.
http://mobile.rawstory.com/all/2014-04-21-sc-gop-candidate-urges-christians-to-remove-children-from-godless-pharaohs-schools#1/media/1
LikeLike
My daughter is in 5th grade in WV and her system bumped her out several times and then she had to finish after the other kids were all done…what a nightmare!
LikeLike
West Virginia is only one of three states in the country without at least one signer. Together we can STOP the MADNESS.
Please take the time to read, sign, and circulate the petition entitled:
STOP COMMON CORE TESTING.
Go Mountain State! From Spruce Knob to the Potomac River, “Mountaineers are always free” and so should your public schools. Stop the corporate control of public education.Thank you.
http://www.petition2congress.com/15080/stop-common-core-testing/?m=5265435
LikeLike
What are the students thinking during this process (system crashing) after going through all of the buildup in preparing for this “test”? I sure would like to hear their thoughts. There must be lots of testimonies to be heard because mine testify to me everyday.
LikeLike