Texas STAAR test canceled on Tuesday for many after technical problems

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Texas education officials advised districts to suspend the first day of STAAR tests after thousands of students attended in person and were prevented from taking the standardized test online due to widespread technical problems across the state.

“If your students were able to access the test, they should continue the test. If your students were unable to access the test, they should be excused from the test until the problem is resolved, ”said the message from the Texas Education Agency.

Texas officials ordered students to take Texas State Academic Readiness Assessments in person this year at monitored test sites, although millions of students are still conducting their studies remotely because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The disruptions affected the districts that administered the online tests and ranged from slow response times to students who were unable to log in to the test. Writing tests for fourth and seventh graders have been discontinued, as have English I tests for high school students, according to the TEA. Online testing will resume on Wednesday.

TEA plans to transition the test entirely online in the academic year 2022-23. For districts that also plan to administer paper tests with Scantrons, students who do these versions can proceed with the tests.

“We understand the frustration this has caused students, parents, teachers and administrators,” said the TEA statement. “What happened today is completely unacceptable.”

Educational Testing Service, one of the companies hired by the state to develop and administer the test, is investigating the matter, according to the message from the TEA. STAAR tests are generally limited to four or five hours, depending on the subject, and tests are scheduled to run until May 14th. According to the TEA press release, ETS will no longer administer testing services across the state as of this spring. Cambium Assessment, another commercial standardized testing company, will assume these roles from the 2021-22 school year.

“Everyone involved in public education in Texas should expect something better than what they experienced today,” announced TEA. “We are working to ensure that our students do not experience testing problems in the future.”

Dr. Mark Henry, superintendent of the Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District, said the online test fell across the state before 9 am.

Austin ISD students waited nearly two hours in person to take the test. Dick Frazier, a music teacher at Austin ISD, also said there was a shortage of devices in his district for all students who attended to take the test online.

“In some cases, these children have never been to our school before, because they have been in the pandemic all last year and are in the pandemic this year,” said Frazier.

Although the test is mandatory this year, there is no penalty for elementary and high school students who fail to attend or fail the STAAR test this year. Texas officials said the test would not affect students’ ability to move on to the next grade.

But high school students must pass five specific subjects before they graduate, a requirement that will not be waived this year. Henry said that expecting students to take a standardized high-risk test in person this spring was “silly,” and he attributed the impetus to administer STAAR this year to the state’s $ 64 million contract with the testing company.

“There is a lot of pressure on people to make sure these contracts are delivered,” said Henry. “Therefore, this spring, the test does not aim to improve academic performance. It is about improving the financial results of a testing company. “

The online STAAR test has experienced technical problems before. In 2018, the software expelled thousands of students from the test while it was still in progress and would not let them log on again. In 2016, computer problems across the state affected more than 14,000 tests.

Disclosure: The Educational Testing Service has financially supported The Texas Tribune, a non-profit, non-partisan news organization that is financed in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune‘s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.