‘It’s been rocky’ - schools struggle with new standardized test

BY PETER D’AURIA VTDigger

At Montpelier Roxbury Public Schools, standardized testing this month — never an enjoyable or soothing experience — was even worse than usual.

The test, a new system called Cognia, appeared rife with technical issues, and some classes struggled to sit for the test at all, according to Superintendent Libby Bonesteel. The district’s sixth-graders were simply unable to log in to the computer-based testing program last week, forcing administrators to find new testing dates. And multiple fifth-grade students were repeatedly and inexplicably ejected from the program, she said, to the point where some began to cry.

“They got incredibly frustrated, and some were in tears around it,” Bonesteel said.

Frustrations over the rollout of the Cognia standardized test are not limited to Montpelier Roxbury. Last week, the state’s organizations of superintendents, principals, teachers and school boards expressed concerns that the test rollout was becoming a mess.

The organizations were “seriously concerned with the administration of the test, which begins this week, and the affirmative harm to students and staff that is likely to occur,” leaders wrote in an April 11 letter to the state’s top education official.

“The bottom line is students and schools should not be penalized for results of a test with questionable validity that has been hastily implemented,” the groups wrote.

Schools across the U.S. are required to administer a series of annual standardized tests to students in elementary, middle and high schools.

Students must take annual standardized tests in language arts and mathematics in grades three through eight, as well as once in grades 10 to 12. Schools must also administer science tests three times between grades three and 12.

Vermont previously contracted with the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC), an organization of public education en- tities, to administer tests. In October, Vermont announced that it was contracting with Cognia, a Georgia-based accreditation and testing nonprofit, to provide standardized testing after the expiration of the Smarter Balanced contract.

In an Oct. 5 press release announcing the switch, state education officials touted Cognia’s focus on equity.

“Cognia’s approach to diversity, equity and inclusion in the development and implementation of assessments aligns with Vermont’s values, and the accessibility and user experience of their testing resources will make working with the assessments easier for students, families and educators,” then-Secretary of Education Dan French said in the release.

But the rollout of the test has left school administrators concerned that Cognia is not living up to those promises.

Delays in the state contracting process meant that the test rollout did not start until March, education groups said in their letter — meaning administrators had to scramble to learn a new testing program just weeks before administering it.

Doug Kussius, the principal at White River School in White River Junction, said he had not expected the Agency of Education to administer the tests on such a short timeframe.

“I would expect, like, if we were going to get the test next year, we’d be thinking about it now,” he said. Even through December, Kussius said, he had told staff that the assessment would likely be put on hold.

“I’m like, ‘No, don’t worry about it, there’s no information on it, nothing’s coming out, there’s no way they’re going to try to pull this off. Just don’t worry about it, it’s not going to happen,’” he said. “And then in January, they were like, ‘No, this is definitely going to happen.’”

That fueled concerns that there was not enough technical or administrative support to effectively conduct the exams.

Administrators struggled to implement accommodations, like text-to-speech, for students with disabilities. Students were faced with repeated error messages, some of which would end test sessions abruptly. And one technical problem briefly allowed school officials to see confidential student information from other districts around the state.

Lindsey Hedges, a spokesperson for the Agency of Education, said in an email last week that the problem was “swiftly corrected by the contractor” and that student information was never released to the public.

Gwen Carmolli, the director of curriculum and instruction at the Colchester School District and president of the Vermont Curriculum Leaders Association, attributed the technical problems to the state’s short rollout timeline.

“It’s been rocky,” she said.

At Colchester High School, the testing began with just two classes totaling 40 students, Carmolli said. Even so, the school needed to pull six extra staffers away from their normal duties to successfully administer the assessments.

“It’s taking a village to get it rolling,” she said. “And I’ve been lucky enough to be able to get it see TESTING page 4

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