State DOE plans to change TNReady testing, search for new vendors

(WVLT) -- State education officials are backtracking on plans to move TNReady tests online for the 2018-19 school year, and announces that some of the next year's tests won't count for students, teachers or schools.

The Tennessee Department of Education also said it plans to release a new request for proposals to find vendors who can successful administer the tests in the 2019-20 academic school year.

The state DOE is searching for and prioritizing vendors with success in administering statewide tests in the past. The contract won't necessarily go to just one vendor; the education officials said they plan to break apart the components of the testing program to allow vendors to bid in a way depending on its strengths.

Questar's contract of the primary vendor has been extended through the 2018-19 academic school year, however the test design and development portion of TNReady will be transferred to the Educational Testing Service. Education officials said this will allow Questar to focus solely on administering and scoring tests.

The state DOE said it's proposing amendments to Questar in order to improve the tests. Some of those suggestions include a multi-state stress test, a third-party review of the testing process, providing crisis-level monitoring throughout the testing window and improving its customer service.

Although Tennessee is one of just 10 states that still have paper tests, education officials plan to scale back plans to move more testing online next year. They said the only online testing in 2018-19 will be science tests for grades 5-8 and high school assessment tests.

When it comes to paper testing, the state DOE said it is decreasing the versions of tests administered and teachers will be able to review all test questions, scripts and test forms. This way, it will be easier for coordinators and proctors to administer.

Education officials said it is transitioning to a new academic standard for science, so no tests in grades 3-8 will count for students, teachers or schools. The state said no public scores will be released for the tests either.

The investigation into what caused issues with TNReady online testing in the 2017-18 academic school year is ongoing.

Over 2.5 million test sessions were competed online over the 18-day test administration window. This was the largest year ever for testing.

The Tennessee Department of Education said in part about the testing issues,

"We are continuing to learn from what we experienced this administration, both on paper and online, and identifying ways to improve. Additionally, as is protocol as states move to online testing, we will conduct additional analyses of our test results to identify any impact the online interruptions may have had. "

On May 14, DOE officials released a document detailing

"How we are improving assessments in Tennessee."

According to that document, state DOE officials are gathering feedback from district leaders and stakeholders, including using feedback sessions with school directors and assessment coordinators in regional meetings across the state this summer.

"We are also seeking and look forward to direct feedback from teachers and principals,"

the document states.

"And, we will conduct focus group sessions with teachers, parents and students."

In May, officials said the following program changes would be implemented for the 2018-19 school year:

• Transition to using ETS for all test designs, allowing third-party Questar to focus solely on test delivery and reporting.
• Transitioning to no stand-alone field tests for the next two years, and continuing to reduce tests and time where we can, including eliminating two end-of-course assessments for next year.
• All online assessments will use a third-party expert to serve as an external consultant to conduct a review of all Questar technology systems.
• Officials will use a large-scale stress test to verify Questar's systems' capacity.
• Review text-to-speech features that caused slow-downs and issues for the Nextera platform.
• Paper tests will reduce the number of forms, and officials have explored test booklet changes, which would streamline and simplify logistics for schools.

The DOE also said they would be "significantly improving customer service," explaining that Quester did not provide "the quality of customer service and training support that our schools deserve."

For more information about new guidance for educators and schools regarding TNReady testing,click here .