PANAMA CITY — Computer problems that plagued many school districts — including Bay District Schools — when statewide student testing began Monday eased locally Tuesday.
Testing went “pretty well,” Bay District Schools coordinator of assessment and accountability Camilla Hudson said Tuesday afternoon. The district saw a few issues with the start of testing being slow, but overall schools were able to successfully complete testing, she said.
“Today is fine,” Bay High Assistant Principal Brian Bullock said.
Bullock said there were “zero issues” with student testing Tuesday. However, Monday’s testing had a traffic jam, said Bullock, who added Bay High students took 25 minutes Monday to get on the testing website but that otherwise “everything went fine” Monday. Two students at the school had issues submitting their tests Monday and may have to retake them, Bullock said.
Rosenwald High School Principal Chandra Tyson also said everything with testing went well Tuesday.
But Monday was a different story for some Bay District Schools.
“A lot of people couldn’t log in,” Bay District Schools Superintendent Bill Husfelt said of Monday’s testing issues.
In an email to school district superintendents across the state, Florida Department of Education Commissioner Pam Stewart said “a software issue caused log-in issues, including delays and error messages for a number of districts.”
Several school districts Tuesday continued to suspend the computer-based for a second day, despite assurances that the problems had been fixed.
Husfelt said other school districts stopped testing and that the issue was with the software providers AIR Assessment, not Bay District Schools.
Hudson said testing was “hit or miss” across the district Monday. There were issues with students accessing the testing website and submitting their tests when completed.
Successful testing occurred Monday at J.R. Arnold High School, Bay High School, A. Crawford Mosley High School, Rutherford High School and Jinks Middle School. While there were issues at some of these schools such as lag time, Hudson said, overall the testing was successful at these schools.
The middle and high schools of North Bay Haven Charter Academy planned to test Monday but then chose not to due to issues, Hudson said. Merritt Brown Middle School also planned to test Monday but ran into issues, Hudson said.
For the middle and high school at North Bay Haven Charter Academy, Principal Meredith Higgins said teachers were unable to get on the testing website for computer-based testing Monday. North Bay Haven waited Monday to see if the issue would be resolved, Higgins said, but testing ultimately was postponed and will be rescheduled later this week.
All issues with testing were documented and reported to the Florida Department of Education, Hudson said. Only the middle and high schools started testing Monday, Hudson said.
The standardized tests are crucial because officials use them to decide everything from who graduates to whether students are held back in the third grade. This year’s tests — which are being used for the first time — are based on the Common Core standards that have sparked opposition from some parents and teachers in Florida and other states.
In a press conference last week, Husfelt and Hudson both said they had concerns about testing. Husfelt said he was afraid of an “Obamacare meltdown” when computers were turned on for testing. Hudson said she was a little concerned about infrastructure for computer-based testing.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.