Students at three schools in Central Texas were affected by the online testing issues some districts experienced statewide while taking the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR) this spring.
According to the Texas Education Agency, in April, a connectivity slowdown disrupted online testing for students in Texas for 20 minutes. However, some districts in the state were impacted for up to three hours. During testing in May, students in several districts in the state had a connectivity slowdown of 90 minutes.
Midway ISD, for example, had 100 of its students affected by the glitches, including malfunctions with login information, incomplete submissions and freezing during the test.
Waco ISD reported having 111 students affected during April testing and 211 children were affected. Marlin ISD Superintendent Dr. Michael Seabolt said students in his district also experienced outages during the testing.
Because of the testing issues, TEA Commissioner Mike Morath said TEA will exclude the results of the STAAR tests for students directly affected by the online testing issues.
However, if the results would benefit the rating of the district or campus, the district will receive the higher rating. State passing requirements for 5th and 8th grade students impacted by the issues will be waived. In addition, liquidated damaged in the amount of $100,000 will be assessed against the company responsible for the delivery and administration of the STAAR.
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