It may not be consolation to parents whose children are experiencing computer failures during testing this week, but the Georgia Department of Education says last year was much worse.
Some schools have encountered computer snafus with this year’s administration of the high-stakes Georgia Milestones, a test used to judge both student and teacher performance. This is the second year of Milestones testing and more schools are administering the tests online.
Most complaints are coming out of Fulton County Schools. “The electronic version of the Georgia Milestones is a complete waste of time and resources. Computers shut down while students are testing. The network crashed often. On day one of testing, students took the English Language Arts portion two to three hours late and went a whole school day testing without taking restroom breaks or eating. Most students ate lunch at 3:00 p.m. after they finished testing,” said one Fulton teacher.
The computer meltdowns are occurring despite trial runs by districts to ensure their networks could handle the crush of student testing.
DOE spokesman Matt Cardoza said, “I don’t know if they had the same number of people getting on the servers at the same time; that is what seems to be the issue. If you did a dry run that didn’t look at capacity – and that is the most prevalent problem we have seen – it is going to be an issue for you.”
To read more about the problems and what DOE has to say, go to the AJC Get Schooled blog
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