LAS VEGAS – State SBAC testing was suspended again Friday for all Clark County school students because of system delays and crashes from test maker Measured Progress.
State officials learned that two other states were dealing with the same server problems and were not able to administer the test to all of their students.
Nevada, Montana and North Dakota are positioning themselves to hold the test makers accountable over the botched Common Core assessments. Testing in the states was halted last week after a widespread system crash caused by capacity issues with New Hampshire-based Measured Progress.
Officials from the three states say they are discussing legal options with their state attorneys general.
Principal Keith Whipperman of Leavitt Middle School said his students tried to take the SBAC or Common Core test 20 times.
“The kids take this very seriously, they come prepared, they come into the lab, they get kicked out of the machine," said Whipperman.
Superintendent Kristen Baesler said North Dakota schools dealt with similar problems.
"We began experiencing a significant drop-off of students and the server actually shut down, and bumped all of our students off," Baesler said.
The state superintendent of Montana said their students experienced very similar delays and a slowdown of the system due to an overload of database servers causing many students to not take the test.
Nevada has also filed breach of contract notices and is unlikely to meet a federal testing mandate after its largest school district said it won't attempt to test anymore without a problem-free guarantee.
Measured Progress has apologized for the technical problems. CEO and President Martin Borg of Measured Progress issued the following statement:
“We regret that schools in Clark County School District were unable to complete their Smarter Balanced online assessments over the past few days, and we apologize for the frustration and inconvenience that students and educators experienced. We are actively working with the state of Nevada on a plan to resolve the difficulties and improve the testing experience for all students. We are eager to move forward once we receive the state's approval of the plan. We continue to work with officials in Nevada to deliver Smarter Balanced online assessments. To date, more than 115,000 students in Nevada have successfully completed Smarter Balanced assessments.”
Montana says it may require the test makers to reimburse the state for any future federal funding lost.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.