The U.S. Department of Education has granted a waiver to Alaska schools after a system-wide malfunction last spring interrupted students’ standardized tests in English, math, and science.
In April, Pegge Erkeneff spoke about the various malfunctions with the Alaska Measures of Progress testing, including in interruption caused by a fiber-optic cable break.
Erkeneff: “We did have students that were getting bumped off and we weren’t positive exactly what was happening and that happened a couple different times. The State of Alaska Department of Education and Early Development was also very frustrated so they made the decision to suspend the AMP test.
Other states were also affected.
The AMP test will be replaced by a different exam next year following the issues, as well as educators finding the results from the test not entirely useful.
The waiver by the Dept. of Education was granted on the condition that states will find another test to use by next spring.
The State Department of Education is in the process of selecting a vendor for the new testing of 3rd through 10th graders.
