State says Tennessee student assessments weren't hacked

The glitchy rollout of TNReady to replace Tennessee's TCAP test is sparking debate and anxiety.
The glitchy rollout of TNReady to replace Tennessee's TCAP test is sparking debate and anxiety.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - The Tennessee Department of Education says problems with the standardized student assessment program weren't caused by a cyberattack as earlier suspected and no student data was breached.

The agency said the event that occurred April 17 was largely due to a change in text-to-speech configuration. The department said in a news release the vendor Questar implemented an unauthorized change in text-to-speech, which had operated successfully previously. The release said the change led to other problems experienced during TNReady online testing.

The department said it is reducing what it pays by $2.5 million to account for the problems and costs incurred by the state.

Questar chief operating officer Brad Baumgartner said in the release that the company believes the configuration problem has been resolved and will continue working to confirm that.

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