Bob Schaeffer of Fairtest has kept track of computerized testing systems. They have failed in seven states: Colorado, Florida, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota and Wisconsin.
U.S. COMPUTERIZED TESTING PROBLEMS: 2013 – 2015
compiled by National Center for Fair & Open Testing (FairTest)
The ongoing litany of computer exam administration failures reinforces the conclusion that the technologies rushed into the marketplace by political mandates and the companies paid to implement them are not ready for prime time. It makes no sense to attach high-stakes consequences to such deeply flawed tools
Updates to this list will be posted at: http://fairtest.org/computerized-testing-problems-2013-2015
2015
INDIANA – “ISTEP Testing a Mess Again This Year,” WISH-TV, April 23, 2015
MINNESOTA – “Minnesota Suspends Statewide Testing Amid Technical Woes,” Minnesota Public Radio, April 21, 2015
NEVADA – “Breach of Contract Declared After Common Core Testing Crash,” KOLO-TV, April 21, 2015
FLORIDA –“Statewide Computer Glitch Causes More School Testing Woes,” Ocala Star Banner, April 20, 2015
NEVADA – “Common Core Test Crashes Again on First Day Back,” Associated Press, April 20, 2015
MONTANA — “Montana Lets Schools Cancel Smarter Balanced Testing After Technical Woes,” Education Week, April 15, 2015
NORTH DAKOTA – “More Glitches Plague Standardized Tests,” Bismarck Tribune, April 15, 2015
COLORADO – “Technical Difficulties Cause Statewide Shutdown of Standardized Testing in Colorado,” Colorado Springs Gazette, April 15, 2015
MINNESOTA – “Minnesota Student Assessments Snarled by Computer Crash,” Pioneer Press, April 15, 2015
WISCONSIN – “Latest Glitch Delays Common Core Testing in Wisconsin,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, March 26, 2015
COLORADO – “Computer Attack During Standardized Testing Delays Some Exams in Colorado Springs School District,” Colorado Springs Gazette, March 20, 2015
RHODE ISLAND – “Computer Glitch Forces Postponement of PARCC Tests in Bristol,” Providence Journal, March 17, 2015
CALIFORNIA – “New State Standardized Tests Begin After Rocky Trial Run,” Los Angeles Times, March 11, 2015.
FLORIDA – “Amid Technical Problems, Miami-Dade School System Postpones New Tests,” Miami Herald, March 2, 2015
GEORGIA – “Milestones Online Student Testing System Crashes in Test Run,” Athens Banner-Herald, January 21, 2015
ILLINOIS – “After Computer Hiccup, PARCC Test Up and Running at District 308,” Chicago Tribune, March 3, 2015
INDIANA – “Trial Run of ISTEP+ Online Exam Reveals Connection Issues,” Associated Press, January 16, 2015 and “When Testing Technology Fails, Students Fear They Will Too,” State Impact Indiana, February 5, 2015
MAINE – “Commissioner: State Will Look Into Lewiston Online Testing Concerns,” Sun-Journal, February 5, 2015
NEW JERSEY – “PARCC Tests Postponed at One School After Glitch,” NJ.com, February 20, 2015 and “Possible Hacking Postpones Tests in Union Township,” NJ.com, March 3, 2015
2014
ARKANSAS – “Dardanelle Experiences Testing Problems,” Courier News, May 13, 2014
CALIFORNIA – “State’s New Computerized Exam Tryout Plagued by Glitches,” Los Angeles Times, May 11, 2014
CONNECTICUT – “Stamford’s Common Core Testing Problematic,” Stamford Advocate, July 25, 2014
FLORIDA – “Computer Problems Shut Down FCAT Testing in Pasco, Hernando and Across the State,” Tampa Bay Times, April 22, 2014
INDIANA – “New ISTEP Glitches Put Educators on Edge,” Indianapolis Star, April 24, 2014
KANSAS – “Kansas Education Officials Extend State Testing Period Amid Computer Glitches,” The Wichita Eagle, March 30, 2014, and “Kansas Won’t Release Data From Reading, Math Tests,” Associated Press, July 8, 2014
MARYLAND – “Field-Testing of Common Core Exams Gets Off to a Shaky Start at MD High School,” Education Week, April 3, 2014 and “Md. School System Raises Concerns About Readiness for PARCC Common Core Exams,” Washington Post, November 9, 2014
NEBRASKA – “Problems With State Writing Tests Prompts Education Officials to Toss Results,” (Lincoln) Journal Star, July 22, 2014
NORTH CAROLINA – “North Carolina Warns About Problems with Online CTE Tests,” (Raleigh) News & Observer, May 22, 2014
OKLAHOMA – “President of CTB/McGraw-Hill Apologizes to Oklahoma for Disrupted Testing,” Tulsa World, April 25, 2014
SOUTH DAKOTA – “’Spinning Cursor’ Among Sioux Falls Common Core Testing Issues,” KELOland.com, May 12, 2014
WASHINGTON – “Glitches Disrupt Online State Testing for Students in Tacoma,” The News Tribune, May 1, 2014, “Digital Attacks on Kennewick School District Servers Affect Student Testing,” Tri-City Herald, May 30, 2014
2013
INDIANA, KENTUCKY, MINNESOTA, OKLAHOMA – “State’s Online Testing Problems Raise Common-Core Concerns,” Education Week, May 3, 2013
ALABAMA, OHIO – same problems with ACT testing technology as Kentucky
updated by Bob Schaeffer, 04/22/15
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I wonder why anyone would be surprised at all this?
It reminds me of New Orleans after Katrina. Many of the school facilities were old and falling apart before the storm, BEFORE they were flooded. So the Recovery School District comes in with its tons of money from FEMA and state funds and private donations from around the world and purchases READ 180 (nice reading program that uses computer-based delivery for an important part of it) for most of its schools. Yes, they had brand new computers. NO, the technology infrastructure of the many very old buildings could not handle it.
Wonder why Bill Gates doesn’t just equip all schools in the country with all they need to plop kids in front of computers all day? And he could equip all homes/daycares with large screen TVs to plop toddlers in front of to watch educational programs all day.
This would get everyone ready for careers of being security guards and spys, watching monitors all day.
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First, Why don’t we address if TESTING STUDENTS online is best for STUDENTS or rather the bottom line of the TESTING companies?
According to this research article:Reading linear texts on paper versus computer screen: Effects on reading comprehension by Anne Mangen a,*, Bente R. Walgermo a, Kolbjørn Brønnick a,b —they report this conclusion: “The results of this study indicate that reading linear narrative and expository texts on a computer screen leads to poorer reading comprehension than reading the same texts on paper.”
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The Common Core reform agenda was never meant to improve teaching and learning. This is just one more piece of evidence to make the case. NY students have had a near 70% failure rate on paper tests; can’t imagine how bad thing would have went if we kept our commitment to PARCC.
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Nothing the rheeformers do is best for students. That’s not the game plan.
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Just to set the facts straight:
I see California, the largest state in the nation is listed here saying that they had a rocky trial run in 2014.
They must have fixed the problems found in the trial run because they started testing on March 11 2015 and must be at least more than half way through real testing by now without any problems. Looks like it is going well because there is no negative reporting as yet this year.
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There were technical difficulties in Wisconsin that pushed the beginning of the testing window back two weeks, but once the window opened last week the Badger Exam (Smarter Balanced) test has operated with few problems. Because the beginning of testing was delayed, the state eliminated the ELA performance task and that shortened the length of the overall test.
As of today, 45% of all testing state wide is completed and the window is open for districts through May 29. Our district is 57.5% complete.
Really the only issue we encountered once testing began was a very small percentage of students not being able to go back and update their answer on one question on the math performance task, but the ETS help desk was able to reset that.
The decision to delay the start of testing fairly soon before it was scheduled to begin did force some schools to revamp their testing schedules. The entailed additional work for principals and school coordinators and some lesson rescheduling for teachers.
There were some issues to work through that everyone wishes could have been avoided, but I don’t think there is a general impression here that the Badger Exam has “failed.” It sounds like we will be changing assessments next year, so there is uncertainty about what the next exam will be.
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Education by software is NOT good.
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None of the glitches in the Utah tests last year are even reported here.
From: Diane Ravitch’s blog To: f1_l2_i3@yahoo.com Sent: Friday, April 24, 2015 2:01 PM Subject: [New post] Fairtest: Computerized Testing Systems Have Crashed in 7 States, So Far #yiv7644353163 a:hover {color:red;}#yiv7644353163 a {text-decoration:none;color:#0088cc;}#yiv7644353163 a.yiv7644353163primaryactionlink:link, #yiv7644353163 a.yiv7644353163primaryactionlink:visited {background-color:#2585B2;color:#fff;}#yiv7644353163 a.yiv7644353163primaryactionlink:hover, #yiv7644353163 a.yiv7644353163primaryactionlink:active {background-color:#11729E;color:#fff;}#yiv7644353163 WordPress.com | dianeravitch posted: “Bob Schaeffer of Fairtest has kept track of computerized testing systems. They have failed in seven states: Colorado, Florida, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota and Wisconsin.U.S. COMPUTERIZED TESTING PROBLEMS: 2013 – 2015compiled by Natio” | |
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Any monkey — except those at Microsoft and Pearson — can produce software that doesn’t crash under normal circumstances.
And you can fix junk that is crashing so that it doesn’t crash, but it’s still junk.
“Junk is Junk”
Junk is junk, it doesn’t change
No matter how it’s used
No matter how it’s rearranged
The junk should be refused
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Add Georgia to the lust. We experienced temporary disruptions and had problems with the screen reader. Our disruptions were corrected relatively quickly, but the damage is done as far as the test takers are concerned. I will admit that I have a preference for the computer based tests. I’m hopeful the concerns can be corrected.
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Should be “list” not “lust”.
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In 2013-14, WIDA pilot tested its ACCESS test on computers. This is the yearly assessment for ELL students. The schools using the pilot had no customer support or tech support. The results were dismal and teachers were held responsible. To be told you are responsible for testing results because the system crashed, technology needed to be updated (with admin passwords that no one has access to), is ludicrous! Next year online testing will be mandatory. It makes no sense. Oh, and the testing scorers will be handled by the same company that handles the yearly state assessments. After 20 years of teaching, I’m getting out! I’m a damn good teacher but I’m tired of the bureaucratic BS game of “it’s who you know!”
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