More TNReady problems reported in Shelby County
More problems with the online system for TNReady tests affected students in Shelby County on Thursday and led to state legislators passing a bill to address the shortcomings.
Lakeland School System reported widespread problems as the troubled testing platform failed again in several counties across the state. “All of our students have experienced interruptions today,” Superintendent Ted Horrell said.
Around half the students had problems submitting the test or had missing data, he said.
The Lakeland situation was the latest in this week’s ongoing problems that drew the ire of state legislators, some of whom called for the resignation of Candice McQueen, the state Department of Education commissioner.
On Thursday, legislators passed an 11th-hour bill protecting students, educators and districts from adverse results in this year’s testing.
“All across the state we have heard from superintendents, testing coordinators about some issues logging in, recording the tests as the kids took them, sometimes not being able to log in,” said House Republican Caucus Chair Ryan Williams of Cookeville.
“I think what happened was the House felt like we needed to do something to protect teachers and our students and our institutions from further erosion of the trust as it relates to these tests. I think what you saw today is an effort to do that.”
Late Thursday afternoon, the Department of Education stated that 250,000 students completed testing, a high for a single day’s testing in the state. But the statement also noted legislators had lost confidence in the testing.
“It was clear many members of the General Assembly wanted to address concerns related to the recent administration of state assessments,” according to the statement. “The governor and Commissioner McQueen understand these concerns and did not oppose the legislation. We will fully support the implementation of the new law.”
Not every local district dealt with major problems.
Arlington Community Schools reported that out of 400 tests, all were able to be submitted except for one. Spokesman Tyler Hill said the school’s IT department was on hold with the testing company, which was “experiencing a high call volume.”
Shelby County Schools has not reported any issues, Chief of Communications Natalia Powers said.
Collierville Schools students who tested this morning were able to submit the test before reported outages statewide, according to Chief of Schools Jeff Jones.
“We are optimistic regarding this afternoon’s testing and will communicate any difficulties,” he said.
Bartlett City Schools completed testing Thursday morning, a spokesman said. The Germantown Municipal School District did not have any online tests scheduled for Thursday.
Thursday was the fourth day of testing, and the third day of reported problems this week.
By far, Tuesday marked the most significant issues for the state. That day, the Tennessee Department of Education announced a possible cyberattack on its vendor, Questar Assessment, that caused the company to shut down the system.
The attack on Questar’s systems affected five other states with which the company contracts to manage online testing.
McQueen appeared before lawmakers on Wednesday, facing questions for more than two hours on the problems that have plagued TNReady for several years.
McQueen apologized for the issues and after the hearing asked Nashville District Attorney Glenn Funk to call on the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and State Office of Homeland Security to investigate.
Jason Gonzales, Jordan Buie and Amy Nixon of the USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee contributed.
Reach Jennifer Pignolet at jennifer. pignolet@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @JenPignolet.