ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - The Latest on issues with student testing in Alaska (all times local):
5:40 p.m.
The Alaska education department is canceling its computer-based statewide student assessments, citing technical disruptions and concerns with the validity of the results.
Interim commissioner Susan McCauley says federal rules call for state education departments to administer standards-based tests for students in grades three through eight and once in high school. But she says the requirements also say the tests are to be high-quality and valid. She says she doesn’t believe the test meets the requirements but says the state can’t come up with a new test to administer this school year.
The department says a severed fiber optic cable at the site of the test vendor disrupted testing earlier this week. It says that when testing resumed, schools reported connectivity interruptions and that some student answers were lost.
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1:30 a.m.
Standardized testing across Alaska has been suspended after ongoing problems with an Internet connection at the University of Kansas, where the testing vendor is based.
The problems started on students’ first day of testing Tuesday, when officials announced that a fiber optic cable that provides Internet connectivity to the University of Kansas had been cut. The university’s Achievement & Assessment Institute provides online standardized testing to school districts throughout Alaska.
Testing was supposed to resume Wednesday, but the Alaska Department of Education decided to suspend testing after the vendor’s system crashed several times.
Officials say students taking the Alaska Measures of Progress exam when the server shut down have their work saved.
Education officials say testing will resume when the Kansas-based vendor can ensure the test will function properly.
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