A Cyberattack, a Cut Cable & a Software Glitch: Why Tennessee Is Discounting Student Test Scores — and Wants the Feds to Do the Same
Schools in Tennessee will not face any consequences from standardized test results this year, following a series of cyberattacks and technical issues that prevented some students from taking the state tests. The disruption occurred after testing vendor, Questar, experienced a denial-of-service cyberattack, overwhelming the system with requests. Despite this, no student data was stolen.
As a result of the testing problems, Tennessee legislators passed a law to protect students’ grades, teacher compensation, and employment status from being negatively affected by this year’s test results. The aim was to prevent further erosion of trust in these tests. This legislation was seen as an effort to address the concerns of teachers, students, and institutions.
Tennessee may have to request a federal waiver under the Every Student Succeeds Act in order to be excused from testing, but the state Education Department is still reviewing the law to determine whether a waiver would be necessary. It is unclear whether Tennessee will be granted a waiver, as the federal government is moving away from granting waivers.
Republican lawmakers in the state have called for a thorough review of the testing platform, which has experienced a series of issues since the exams began on April 16. The problems ranged from students being unable to log in, to the cyberattack overwhelming the system, to the vendor updating its software and resetting school rosters, and finally, to a fiber-optic cable being severed and causing internet shutdown for schools across the state.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the state Office of Homeland Security are currently investigating the cyberattack. Some legislators have even called for the Education Commissioner to step down and others have suggested a return to pencil-and-paper tests as a solution.
Education Commissioner Candice McQueen argued that this transition to an online environment has faced challenges and that blame should not be placed on a single individual. However, Rep. Mark White acknowledged that the legislature is partly responsible for the testing crisis, as they hurriedly implemented new standardized tests without proper vetting after withdrawing from the PARCC test in 2014.
Eric Brown, an assistant director at Tennessee Tech University, believes that while the technology struggles are part of the growing process for schools transitioning to online testing, more attention needs to be given to cybersecurity. He suggested common sense adjustments such as maintaining infrastructure, keeping operating systems up to date, preventing system degradation, and controlling access to certain systems.
Despite the difficulties, the state Department of Education announced that 250,000 successful testing sessions were completed last week. They expressed gratitude for the patience and persistence of students and teachers.
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