Following yesterday’s announcement that Measurement Inc. had been fired and TNReady testing suspended, Commissioner of Education Candice McQueen sent an email to teachers explaining the decision and providing information for what’s next.

The email included a line with a bit of an apology: You were ready, and I am sorry that we were unable to provide all students with a consistent and complete testing experience this year.

Because, of course, all students want a consistent and complete testing experience.

Here’s the email in it’s entirety:

Earlier today, I announced that the department is terminating its statewide assessment contract with Measurement Inc., effective immediately. The state awarded Measurement Inc. a contract in November 2014 to provide an online testing platform with a paper and pencil backup. Not only did Measurement Inc. fail to deliver a reliable online platform for students across the state, it has also failed to print and ship paper tests by deadlines the company had set. Terminating our contract with Measurement Inc. was a challenging decision because we’ve been working to honor the effort and investment of Tennessee teachers and students, but we’ve exhausted every option in problem solving with this vendor to get these tests delivered. TNReady was designed to provide Tennessee students, teachers, and families with better information about what students know and understand, and the failure of this vendor has let down the educators and students of our state.

As a result of repeated failures from this vendor, we are suspending Part II of TNReady for grades 3-8 this year. However, because districts have already received all high school testing materials, high school testing will move forward as planned.

While Measurement Inc. had previously assured us it would have all grade 3-8 materials delivered by April 27, the third deadline the company had set and missed this month, 100 percent of districts are still waiting on some 3-8 materials to arrive, and few districts have complete sets of tests for any grade or subject. Last week, the department told districts that we would not ask them to continue to change schedules and extend the testing window beyond May 10. We know the transition to TNReady has presented unexpected challenges for educators, schools, and districts, and we will not ask you to further disrupt your end of year schedule.

Many of you have shared with me that, despite the challenges with implementation this year, you were excited for your students to show what they were able to do on a new assessment. I understand that many of you will share in my disappointment that we won’t have detailed score reports from this year’s assessment for students in grades 3-8. We will provide as much information to schools and students as possible related to results from Part I testing for grades 3-8. This will be used for informational purposes only, and no score will be associated with Part I for grades 3-8. High school tests will be scored, and these results will be shared in the fall.

The transition to a new assessment this year has been challenging, but aligned assessments are critical to ensure that all students are making progress on their path to postsecondary opportunities and the workforce. I have seen first-hand how hard you have worked to align your instruction to our newer, more rigorous standards. You and your students have risen to higher expectations, and I hope you are encouraged by the growth in critical thinking and problem solving that you have seen in your classrooms every day. You have been flexible and patient beyond what we should expect, especially as you planned for Part II amid important field trips and end-of-year celebrations. You were ready, and I am sorry that we were unable to provide all students with a consistent and complete testing experience this year.

I recognize that our apology is not enough. You also deserve clear guidance as we look ahead to next year. We know teachers’ jobs don’t stop when the final bell rings in May. You spend a great deal of time in the summer months planning for the following year. We’ll share updated math and ELA blueprints in May, which will help you plan for the coming year.

While navigating the challenges of this year’s administration of TNReady, we’ve also been working to improve our assessments for next year. Earlier this month, we shared with districts several changes to TNReady for next year. We’re eliminating Part I for the math assessment, and we will include one to three math problems on Part II called integrated tasks that will maintain the rigor of the performance tasks. As a result of eliminating Part I for math, we will be able to reduce overall testing time for math in grades 3-11. Additionally, we’re adding multiple choice items to ELA Part I, which will encourage students to closely engage with reading passages before they write their constructed response. This will reduce the number of items on ELA Part II and decrease the overall testing time for ELA. These changes were made in response to feedback we received from teachers, as well as school and district leaders, and we’re dedicated to continuously improving our assessments as we move forward with a new assessment vendor.

The department is currently working with the state’s Central Procurement Office to expedite the selection of a vendor for both the scoring of this year’s high school assessment and the administration of next year’s test. In the meantime, I encourage you to read our new frequently asked questions document (here), which offers more detailed information about how this latest announcement will affect you, your schools, and your districts. We will continue to update this resource. It’s also important to note that today’s announcement doesn’t change the flexibility that has already been provided on teacher evaluation. If a teacher has 2015-16 TNReady data, in this case high school teachers, TNReady data will only be used if it helps the teacher.

Thank you for your hard work and dedication to your students. I appreciate your patience and understanding as we look ahead to the 2016-17 school year.

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