Officials at KU’s Center for Educational Testing and Evaluation said they were trying to diagnose and repair the problem to prevent further delays and shutdowns.
“They were able to get us back online, but it really is a spliced connection right now,” Marianne Perie, the center’s director, said Thursday afternoon.
“So we’re trying to figure out: Is there an issue with the line not being able to support it? Is there something going on internally? We just really don’t know what’s happening right now.”
Thousands of students taking tests in Wichita and elsewhere – as far away as Alaska – were interrupted Tuesday when crews working on the KU campus accidentally cut a cable that provides broadband service to the area. Testing was canceled for the rest of that day.
Perie said the system was back up and running Wednesday but began experiencing delays, shutdowns and other glitches around 10 a.m. Thursday.
She said students who may have been kicked off the system during testing would not have lost any answers and should be able to continue where they left off.
“The only thing you might lose is if you’re working on a problem on that page and haven’t actually submitted that answer. But every other item before that, you’re fine,” Perie said. “We haven’t had any reports of lost data.”
She said the center would continue trying to diagnose and fix the problem. Districts should monitor instructions from the Kansas Department of Education and watch the center’s Twitter feed for updates, she said.
“We feel their pain, and we apologize for the inconvenience,” she said. “Unfortunately, a lot of it’s out of our hands. But we’re doing the best we can and will continue to work … to make sure schools aren’t inconvenienced more than they already have been.”
State tests, which students are required to take online, were plagued with persistent computer glitches two years ago, prompting officials to extend the testing period that year. This year’s tests are scheduled to be administered through May 12.
Susan Arensman, spokeswoman for the Wichita district, said longer than expected delays between stages of testing have caused scheduling challenges at some schools. Students normally complete several stages of one subject before moving on to the next, but now they could complete part of a math test, then part of a science test, and return to the math when it’s up and running, she said.
“Students, teachers and administrators are frustrated,” Arensman said.
©2016 The Wichita Eagle (Wichita, Kan.), Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
