TNReady not ready this morning . . . again

Reports this morning suggest that Tennessee testing vendor Pearson experienced technical difficulties and TNReady testing didn’t start or couldn’t happen in some school districts.

And another one:

TNReady only experiences problems every single year.

Remember when we were told a dump truck had knocked out a fiber line and that ended testing?

About that Dump Truck

And then remember when it turned out it WASN’T a dump truck, but problems with the testing vendor?

Pretty funny – unless you were the kids taking the tests or the teachers tasked with administering them or the teachers, principals, and schools who are graded and evaluated by the flawed (and often not working) tests.

Oh, and remember how the General Assembly passed a ridiculous third grade retention law based on a test that should better be described as TN-NEVEREADY?

I Don’t Even Have a Headline

Oh – also just last year, testing vendor Pearson secured an additional $40 million in state funds for its failed experiment:

Funding Failure: Testing Vendor Gets $40 Million Increase

Just last year, there were challenges with administering the test:

The Least Wonderful Time of the Year

So, imagine being a third grader at the end of your school year. You find out you have to retake an 85 minute test you’ve already taken. If you don’t do well enough, you have to go to summer school and possibly repeat third grade.

No pressure at all, right?

Then you show up for your retake and you’re ready to go and you have to wait for an hour or two while some tech issues are worked out.

It doesn’t matter that you’ve waited and are now likely extra anxious. This is it.

This test counts. For a lot – especially in the life of a 9-year-old.

This is the type of cruel and unusual punishment that passes for education policy in Tennessee.

And the worst part is, taxpayers are on the hook for millions of dollars to fund this insanity.