Texas STAAR faces technical problems, leaving thousands of students unable to access test
“If your students have been able to access the test, they should continue testing. If your students have not been able to access the test, they should be dismissed from testing until the issue has been resolved,” the message from TEA said.
Texas officials mandated that students take the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, or STAAR test, in-person this year at monitored test sites, despite millions of students still conducting their studies remotely due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The outages appear to be affecting districts administering the tests online, a first for a majority of districts. TEA plans to transition the test fully online by the 2022-23 academic year. For districts that also planned on administering paper tests with scantrons, students taking non-virtual versions have been able to go forward with testing.
Educational Testing Service, one of the companies the state contracts to develop and administer the test, is investigating the issue, according to the TEA message.
Dr. Mark Henry, superintendent for Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District, said online testing has been down statewide since before 9 a.m.
Students in Austin Independent School District waited for almost two hours in-person to take the test. Dick Frazier, a music teacher in Austin ISD, also said there was a shortage of devices for students in his district for all the students who showed up to take the online test.
