The online testing system used by Pennsylvania schools for the annual Pennsylvania System of School Assessment was not operable for several hours Tuesday as students attempted to log in, according to multiple school districts that confirmed the issue to abc27.
This is the first year all Pennsylvania schools are required to use the online system to take the annual standardized test within a two-week testing window. For many students, that window began Tuesday.
Some students were able to access the system later Tuesday morning. It remains unclear how many districts allowed students to begin testing and how many postponed exams.
According to a memo shared with abc27, the Pennsylvania Department of Education said it is aware of the issue and is working to resolve it.
Pennsylvania’s testing system vendor, Minnesota-based Data Recognition Corporation, referred questions about the outage to the Department of Education.
The annual tests are given to students in grades 3 through 8 to measure proficiency. Students in grades 3 through 8 are tested in English language arts and math, while students in grades 5 and 8 are also tested in science.
Last year, 48.5% of students who took the English language arts exam scored proficient or advanced. In math, 41.7% of students scored proficient or advanced.
