Advertisement

Latest round of computerized school testing goes 'smoothly,' so far

 
Published April 14, 2015

Florida school districts resumed computerized testing on Monday without a hitch.

The issues that plagued students as they took the Florida Standards Assessments writing exams a month ago — such as not being able to log in or being knocked out of tests — did not recur.

"What's going on is a bunch of testing," Department of Education spokeswoman Cheryl Etters said as the school day wound down Monday afternoon. "All reports indicate it's going smoothly."

Pinellas, Hillsborough and Pasco officials said their schools had experienced only small, localized interruptions, such as an unexpected fire alarm, as children took their FSA math and language arts tests.

"Our director of assessment tells me that the computer-based testing appears to be going well today," Pinellas County School District spokeswoman Lisa Wolf said via email. "His office has received a few questions but they have been able to locally troubleshoot any issues."

Social media did not buzz with testing chatter, as it did during the first round. The Florida Association of District School Superintendents, which asked its members to send alerts if the system started crashing or any other concerns arose, had nothing of note to report as the day wore on.

Florida education commissioner Pam Stewart said Friday that her department had worked long hours with vendor American Institutes for Research to avoid a repeat of the writing test woes. Actions included adding new firewalls, conducting plenty of load testing and increasing server capacity at the vendor's end.

The earlier problems led lawmakers to authorize an independent study of the tests' validity, including the results, before consequences such as school grades can be implemented. That measure awaits Gov. Rick Scott's signature.

"I welcome any validity study that can be done," Stewart said. "I understand, to try to reassure the public, it is important that somebody else be selected. I think it's important that a validation happen."

FSA testing, including end-of-course exams, continues through May.

Contact Jeffrey S. Solochek at jsolochek@tampabay.com or (813) 909-4614. Follow @jeffsolochek.