Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
Sweet Home students will complete their state tests the old-fashioned way this year, with pencil and paper, after the Oregon Department of Education’s announcement that its computerized testing system, called TESA, was having serious technical issues and would be shut down.
“They will be giving us a short version of the reading and math tests only,” District 55 Supt. Larry Horton said. The science and social studies tests will be dropped this year.
Students will have a window of opportunity to take the test in May, he said, and Curriculum Director Jan Sharp “seems to think that it will be a much shorter version,” between 15 and 30 questions.
That test should meet the requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, Horton said.
“It’s disappointing because we’ve converted everyone over to the new system,” Horton said. The district started changing over about four years ago and had the last school on line about three years ago.
Some students have already tested on line, Horton said. They may choose to take the pencil-and-paper test to earn a higher score.
Students from grades three through 12 are tested annually in Oregon. Before last year, only certain grades, third, fifth, eighth and 10th, were tested.
NCLBA has put pressure on states to test all grades, Horton said.
“The week when the issues started to happen, we had kids taking tests,” Horton said. Like the problems around the state, the on-line test was freezing and dropping students taking the test.
“There’s always going to be computer glitches,” Horton said. “I would say the system was operating as normal up until a week ago, two weeks ago.”
The biggest challenge will be retraining staff for pencil and paper and readjusting, Horton said. Some of the newer staff members have never given a pencil-and-paper test.
“We will get by,” Horton said. “We will finish the testing, and we’re going to meet federal guidelines. They say they’ll be as valid and reliable as the computer tests.”
Horton said he’s concerned that doing the tests by pencil-and-paper, the students won’t be as engaged by the test, affecting their scores.
On March 7, the state announced that it had been hearing about serious disruptions caused by TESA, causing unacceptable interruptions to the school day. The ODE officially suspended TESA.
On March 12, the ODE announced that ODE’s contractor for TESA, Vantage Learning, declined to continue performing services required under the contract.
ODE exhausted every option to continue with TESA until the end of the school year, according to the department, and it is now working with the Department of Justice to explore its legal options.
By May 4, districts will receive paper-and-pencil assessment tests that are designed to take no longer than a single class period. Students will have through May 31 to complete them.
“The decision to move to paper-and-pencil is not one we take lightly, and we are highly aware that the burden of the decision falls on students and classroom teachers,” state schools spokesman Gene Evans said. “We will make every effort to finish the year on a positive note, with every student tested and all schools meeting their obligations to the state and federal government.”
Vantage Learning, Oregon’s contractor since 2001, was not selected to continue as contractor in a competitive procedure last year. A new contractor will be in place for the 2007-08 school year.
Following the notification that it had been disqualified from the selection process, Vantage produced “past due invoices” in the amount of $2.8 million dollars. ODE immediately notified Vantage that ODE disputed those additional invoices, Evans said.
On Jan. 23, Vantage informed ODE that because of this dispute, Vantage would terminate its work with Oregon before the end of our scheduled testing window in mid-May, he said.
Negotiations immediately began to continue TESA and complete the school year. ODE’s deputy superintendent traveled to Vantage headquarters in an effort to resolve the dispute.
It was Vantage’s decision to terminate all services effective March 9, 2007, by posting an electronic notice on the TESA system, he said. ODE made the decision to go with paper-and-pencil tests, and ODE will sign a contract with a new vendor. TESA is expected to be back on line for testing next year.