Education Commissioner Candice McQueen speaks to media representatives while at the Chattanooga Times Free Press on Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2015.Tennessee Education Commissioner Candice McQueen announced today that TNReady testing for grades 3-8 will be suspended for the remainder of the school year.
McQueen said that the state’s contract with Measurement Inc., the testing vendor who developed TNReady, has been terminated.
This is the inaugural year for TNReady, which replaces TCAP, and school systems across the state have been plagued with problems since it’s rollout. The test was originally developed to be taken online, but due to glitches with the online platform, the state decided in February to return to paper and pencil testing.
TNReady was designed to be taken in two-parts, and printing delays forced school districts to reschedule the administration of the first portion of the test. Part-two of the test was scheduled to begin Monday, but due to additional printing delays McQueen said the tests would not arrive on time for testing to continue as scheduled, and canceled testing statewide.
“Measurement Inc.’s performance is deeply disappointing. We’ve exhausted every option in problem solving with this vendor to assist them in getting these tests delivered,” McQueen said in a statement. “Districts have exceeded their responsibility and obligation to wait for grade 3-8 materials, and we will not ask districts to continue waiting on a vendor that has repeatedly failed us.”