More Testing Mess...

My previous two posts have concerned TESA, the Oregon online testing system developed and operated by Vantage Learning, and the technical issues that have come up that have forced the Oregon Department of Education to suspend testing using the system, which might force all Oregon schools to administer paper/pencil tests this spring.

I took a look at the Vantage Learning web site this morning hoping to find information from the company explaining their side of the issue. I did not find anything. I do find it a bit ironic that under the heading Success Stories, the first item listed it TESA, the Oregon State Achievement Testing system. The system that because of errors and technical issues has been deemed unusable by the Oregon Department of Education.

Technorati Tags: testing, ODE, Vantage Learning, TESA

More Oregon Testing and Vantage Learning

Below is the text of an email that was sent out by the Oregon Department of Education regarding the situation with Vantage Learning and the Oregon State Achievement Tests. I wonder what other state education departments or school districts work with these folks and if they are aware of this situation...

For the past several weeks, we have been working to maintain the integrity and stability of Oregon's assessment system - TESA - while dealing with performance and contractual issues that could disrupt our capacity to administer tests through the end of the school year.

Vantage has informed Oregon that because of a dispute over financial issues, it will terminate its work with us before the end of our scheduled testing window. Oregon maintains that Vantage has failed to meet its contractual obligations for service and deliverables.

ODE has made extensive efforts to resolve the issues with Vantage, including traveling to the company's offices in Pennsylvania. We have not, to date, reached a successful conclusion of the dispute.

More information will be communicated as it becomes available today.

Ed Dennis, Deputy Superintendent
Oregon Department of Education

Technorati Tags: Vantage Learning, TESA

Oregon State Testing Problems

In Oregon we have the option of conducting our state achievement testing using an online web based system called TESA. It is produced by a company called Vantage Learning. Recently we have been experiencing problems with the test. The web site that we connect to has been having many technical problems and on Wednesday the Oregon Department of Education announced they were suspending the test until they could get assurances from the vendor that the testing system was going to run properly. If they don't get it working properly, then we are looking at giving paper/pencil tests to all of our students. What fun... You can read more about this in this article from the Oregon Statesman Journal.

Technorati Tags: testing, Vantage Learning

Lewis Elementary Auction

The school where I work, Lewis Elementary, is holding an auction on March 15. The goal is to raise money to help fund things like our Americorps position and other school activities. If you are in Portland and would like to help, please consider attending. More information is available on the Lewis web site. If you do attend, you can bid on cool stuff like this chair painted by Mrs. Logue's kindergarten students.