AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - The first day of standardized testing in Texas has been canceled for thousands of students across several public school districts due to widespread technical issues.
The technical glitch Tuesday morning caused a variety of problems for students taking the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, also known as STAAR.
Students were being kicked out of tests, unable to log back in, or experiencing slow response times from the site.
The Texas Education Agency issued a statement acknowledging the technical difficulties across the state, and calling the disruptions “completely unacceptable.” It noted that this is the last year the state will be working with its current testing vendor, New Jersey-based ETS.
Texas officials mandated that students take the STAAR test in person this year at monitored test sites, even though millions of students are still conducting their studies remotely because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Educators across the state say they need the test results for a more accurate look at where students have fallen behind academically because of the pandemic.
This is not the first time the standardized test glitches. Thousands of students encountered similar problems in 2016 and 2018. The state eventually fined the Educational Testing Service $100,000 for the connectivity issues.
Dallas, Frisco, Plano, Grapevine-Colleyville, Mesquite and Wylie school districts were among those reporting problems with the standardized test Tuesday. They were told to stop online testing if they continued having problems and resume tomorrow.
It was not immediately clear how many students were affected.
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