Yes, you read that right. The vendor of the Smarter Balanced Assessment was not prepared for the number of tests that the server had to deliver, and the system broke down in three states.
According to the Nevada Department of Education, a spike in students taking the Smarter Balanced Assessment (SBAC) this morning in Nevada, Montana and North Dakota exceeded the data capacity of Measured Progress, a third-party vendor contracted by the states to provide the test.
All testing in the three states has been stopped until Measured Progress can increase its data capacity, according to an email sent to state superintendents today by state deputy superintendent Steve Canavero.
Students who were taking the test at the time of the problem were able to finish their test, but teachers could not start new tests. About 13,000 tests were completed this morning before the errors started occurring, according to the department.
Think about it. The vendor didn’t know that so many students would be taking tests at the same time. What were they thinking?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
They were too busy drooling and thinking, “MONEEEEEY!!! Money money money money money money!!!” It was very distracting for them and we should really be more understanding.
Last year my school test piloted the SBAC and the test did not run well on our old computers and small bandwidth.
The Nevada Department of Education did not care.
Over 3,000 teachers were interviewed yo keep our jobs before winter break – based on the scores. Including every teacher at my school whether they even taught students who failed the test we did as a test pilit.
So the SBAC knew last year, the Nevada State School Board knew last year that schools were likely to have a glitch.
And guess what . . . the Nevada State Board of Education still threatened my school, made us all interview, made us spend all our supply money on new computers to run the test . . . and they are going to do it two years in a row.
Computer glitch? Or pure incompentence on too many levels to spell out here.
How many billions did this glitch cost?
Teachers need to be held accountable? Really?
I’m getting an ulcer worried about this and all the other unjust and crazy mandates politicans think are reform and better for kids.
There is no such thing as a “glitch”. The software or hardware is defective. Rick Frank, Software Engineer
I love the fact that this did not work.
Me too.
As we always see, tech runs ahead of the law. Imposed here way before voters get to see the costs of ‘accountability’. Will the glitches be fixed at additional costs to the taxpayers? Will voters in this state get a clue that ‘accountability’ for school taxes raises the cost of school taxes?
I’d like to point out that teachers and schools have to rearrange their schedules, energies and room assignments—even lunch times get altered—to account for testing. All resources are poured into creating the required and desired testing environment, not just to meet the regulations, but also to support students’ concentration.
Teachers’ focus is redirected from instruction to testing but they had be responsive when this glitch occurred; they had to turn on a dime and provide high-quality engagement for their students, who were also disrupted from their focus, energy, and preparation.
Are the test companies compensating for that or even acknowledging the fact that educators and students needed to quickly figure out how to utilize the void left by failed tests?
And what’s next? Kids and teachers will have to lose even more valuable instruction time for rescheduling the tests?
The loss of valuable learning experience time to account for these massive, disruptive tests is a great tragedy.
Possible they did not test their capacity? Or possible they just did not care. If there is going to be an inquiry, who do you think would be the best to raise it? You are raising the best questions ! Eva Peterson
Sent from my iPhone
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If they did not test their own capacities, or simply did not care, someone needs to make an inquiry.
Who do you nominate?
Well, it was common knowledge long ago (to thinking people, anyway) that the folks involved in “Dumber Balanced” have very low capacities.
No inquiry required there.
Good one, SomeDamPoet.
“The vendor of the Smarter Balanced Assessment was not prepared for the number of tests that the server had to deliver….”
Right, because the number of kids needing to be tested was utterly unknowable in advance. I mean, how could they possibly know how many students are in schools, it’s not like schools have records of these things. Oh, wait….
It’s a good thing the private sector is so much better than the public sector.
“Smarter Balanced”
Ha ha ha ha!What a clown show.
Reminiscent of the Obamacare website rollout.
Hmmm. I wonder why.
The irony is not lost of some of us that we have the dumbest, most incompetent people in the country “assessing” and “evaluating” some of the smartest.
Given all the work and special scheduling that goes into these large scale assessments, it should be an basic expectation that the vendor as the capacity to provide them without interruption. It would be interesting to know what maximum capacity each state specified in their RFP’s. Each state needs to specify their maximum (and should do so under conservative assumptions) and the selected vendor must be able to meet that specification.
Stiles, the vendor had NO idea!
Then what does that say about the three state education departments and their procurement process?
I always said technology giveth and technology taketh away!
Technology works in mysterious ways.
…especially when the ones building it are clueless.
We need a Public Education Recovery Act that prevents this kind of commercial exploitation via mandated tests, and the infrastructure to support computers as if these are universally the best way to “deliver” instruction, tests, guidance, and so on. The creation of the technology will do everything better MYTH is all about money and power.
My eldest son works in the field and loves it and he thinks the focus is too narrow. He thinks (for example) that coding is just a language and “skills” are transferable. He thinks if they want to teach this they can teach it all sorts of ways, because the basic premise is using a language to create a replicable result.
He cracks me up because he used “knitting” as an example. I like it because it’s so unhip and “traditional”. He says a pattern is a code (a language) that creates a replicable result, so you-all can teach them knitting (or anything else that develops that broader skill set) and he’ll take it from there 🙂
You’ll save a lot on devices and programs.
Your son is correct.
In fact, nearly 40 years ago, Architect Christopher Alexander wrote a book called “A Pattern Language” about living spaces which some computer programmers adopted for a model for their own work.
Alexander also wrote another (shorter) book called “Notes on the Synthesis of Form” about design which should be required reading for anyone working on computer software.
Much (if not most) software development gives low priority to (if not ignoring completely) the initial design stage. This virtually guarantees a junk result.
Bill Gates is a perfect example of a computer programmer who never read either of Alexander’s books — or if he did read them, didn’t understand the importance of what they were saying.
Computer systems meant to deliver up the BS tests crashing and burning all over the US . . . quite the metaphor, that!
It is the teachers’ fault like everything else. 😉
TAGO!
The districts should get a refund for such a faulty product. I know I’d return software if it didn’t work.
That will probably happen the day that Bill Gates gives someone a refund for any of his faulty products that don’t work.
IE, when Hell freezes over.
So glad my daughter is opted out and does not have to deal with the testing. She is just forced to sit in the hallway for days bored and reading books.
I am not surprised. So many things can go wrong, KISS is very important when using high-stakes testing. When using Scantron type sheets, slightly missed pencil marks threw off the results, data about students was supplied inaccurately, etc. With computers one has to have faith that the electronics will work as designed; however, we all know what happens–glitches! And of course, junk entered, junk out.
We probably have no idea how students really fared on any given standardized test. Unless of course we ask the teacher if there is a correlation between the results and his/her experience of the student!
“Think about it. The vendor didn’t know that so many students would be taking tests at the same time. What were they thinking?”
I want to answer that question. This is the way many corporation think. They pay bean counters and efficiency experts to come up with the shortest and most inexpensive method that will create the biggest profits.
Oops, it happened again!
http://www.8newsnow.com/story/28811425/nevadas-common-core-testing-halted-for-second-day-in-a-row
I am a student that has been opted out of these test! They still take Away from our study hall or science time. It’s so dumb how they expect us to be ok with theses tests.
They are going to let us know on Friday.
@DianeRavitch They will let us know on Friday? #Nvleg http://www.rgj.com/story/news/education/2015/04/15/common-core-testing-crashes-nevada/25836625/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
The state is working with testing company Measured Progress to resume limited testing on Thursday and Friday, expecting a full restoration on April 20, according to Judy Osgood, spokeswoman for the Nevada Department of Education. The state will determine at noon on Friday whether full testing will occur on April 20.
http://m.reviewjournal.com/news/education/common-core-testing-halted-schools-nevada-2-other-states
We do not have the computer power to run the tests?
That does not surprise me – my school did not have the computer power to
run the tests last year. My school was a SBAC test school.
I’m not sure this can all be blamed on the vendor? My school has limited
bandwidth. We bought new computers but our bandwidth is the same as last
year.
Millions and millions spent on this. My school spent all our supply money
to prepare.
Teachers could be fired based on scores.
Schools could be closed based on scores.
And I’m supposed to believe these scores will be valid and reliable?
And regular instruction is interrupted because classroom computers do not
run with all the test computers sucking the life out of the system.
How would you feel if you were a teacher being held accountable for scores
and you were not given the equipment to perform the testing?
Even worse . . . How would you feel if you were an eight year old
attempting to test and the computer kept crashing? Or the test moved super
slow?
This is terrible.
My kids are more than a score.
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Montana just gave up.
@AngieSullivan0: Montana just gave up #testing #crash #NVLeg http://t.co/pxMSTcFaOu
In terms of population, Nevada, North Dakota, and Montana are three of the smallest states. If their server cannot accommodate the smallest states, how will they meet the needs of huge states such as California? What a debacle.
Computers fail themselves to demonstrate the superiority and reliability of innovation to teachers and students. That’s just as dumb as test-makers mindset. SBAC stands for Sloppy Baseless Absurd Curriculum.
They were thinking “at least we’ve halted for a few hours, a few days, the process of enlightening mankind we fear most: education”
It’s clear as day that those who push increased testing and testing hours and tech in edu care not for education, (that includes murdoch and gates for that matter) and they are only pushing an agenda that serves ill-intended purposes (purposes which are still being met even when they apparently lose money or have a glitch in the system) for when a school, teacher and student misses even one chance to truly educate and truly be educated by a “glitch in the system” or “recalls in technology” or “server crashes” etc these poor, pitiable, pervertedly selfish, ignorant, self-tormented, love-less behemoths and their agendas are fulfilled.
Increased and Unnecessary testing, restrictive curriculums and class content and excessive focus on Technology in education are all an increasingly overt attempt to smother, pervert and control the power of education by TPTB(the powers that be)
Education’s power lies in the power of the teacher, and their individuality, basic human love, experience, skill, knowledge, creativity, self-expression, morality and wisdom which through the kindness and basic human love of their hearts they transmit to the next person. This power though requires conditions of creative space and license, room to grow, and those conditions this day in age are being smothered out by forces that restrict and distract with excessive focus on edu tech, cookie cutter core content and edu standards and mind-numbing sedating testing.
This distraction has led to a stagnant attachment to a 150 year old teaching paradigm that no longer works in the classroom. That being one teacher-one classroom. Teachers and educational experts don’t see this because of the current educational system’s focus upon edu tech, core content and standards and testing. Teachers don’t have time, space or ability to innovate. Experts are by definition confined by their expertise, corralled by their pride and led into debates that distract from fundamental/root solutions to issues.
At TAJA TT® are not confined, thus we are creative and innovative, and have found real, powerful solutions.
For solutions to returning the art back to teaching, for those devoted deeply responsible artists of teaching check out T1 and T2 at http://tajatajataja.com/
For those with their eyes firmly locked on tech in edu, on the future, check out T3 at http://tajatajataja.com/
wishing you all Peace, Harmony and Prosperity
Alan W Abrams