A representative from Pearson would not elaborate on the technical issues with the PARCC, stating that the New Jersey Department of Education would have to answer all questions as “they are the ones administering the test”.
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In New Jersey, state Education Commissioner David Hespe said that administration of the test, from the multistate consortium called the Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Career, was being postponed until the problems could be fixed.
“Although a review is ongoing, Pearson has confirmed that the problem was a log-on issue and was not attributable to server capacity or the actual test”, Hespe said.
New Jersey halted PARCC testing on Wednesday after schools across the state had trouble getting students logged in to take their exams.
Hespe said Pearson was working to address the problem and could have it resolved by Wednesday night. “Last night, in an effort to optimize performance of the test administration system used in New Jersey, Pearson made some adjustments that were deployed Tuesday night through Wednesday morning”. He said it was the first widespread glitch since PARCC testing started. “We are correcting this issue and will work to ensure it does not happen again”.
The New Jersey Board of Education is expected to release a statement later in the day.
Seth Cohan, principal of the Green Township School District, stressed to students, teachers and parents that the glitch was not the school’s fault but said due to the flexibility of his teachers, they were able to “roll with it”.
Rocco G. Tomazic, superintendent of schools for the Freehold Borough School District hoped that Thursday will bring a return to normal for taking the test.
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“This was a technical glitch introduced by a Pearson employee”, said Pearson spokeswoman Laura Howe. “These kinds of mistakes are unacceptable”.
