OLMSTED FALLS, Ohio — Students across Ohio might have been anticipating a state test on Wednesday they never got to take. The Ohio Department of Education and Workforce confirms its testing vendor had an outage this morning. That left teachers and administrators scrambling.
Olmsted Falls High School was on a delayed start to allow sophomores and other students to sit for one of the tests that will determine their graduation status from high school.
That test would not load for the district or any others attempting to test at that time. Now, the district will have to add an extra delayed start day, interrupting some families' schedules and shortening time in the classroom.
"I'm on a group text with many other curriculum directors, assistant superintendents from across our area, and it was one right after the other, 'Are you guys having problems? We can't get in, it's saying there's no test,'" said Kelli Cogan, assistant superintendent for Olmsted Falls City Schools.
The high school has to rent out the tables and chairs it uses on test day, and special accommodations and scheduling have been set for months,
"What students need a small group, what students need to have a read-aloud, what students need certain accommodations, breaks, things like that. Some students need a quiet place; we have all of these moving parts. That's the technical side, right, the scheduling piece. Emotionally and mentally, it's still difficult for any of our students, especially if they have testing anxiety," said Cogan.
The only students in the district who could test are in 3rd grade. Their assessment is still administered by pencil and paper. By 4th grade, all testing is done on Chromebooks.
"They knew they were coming in they wanted to do well. And they were coming in prepared in that way," said Jen Atkins, 5th grade teacher.
Atkins couldn't access the testing portal inside her classroom during the outage. She kept students busy with activities and games while waiting about an hour for what to do next.
"When the principal came on, there were claps and cheers, but there were some kids I could see it on their faces that they were a little disappointed. Not that they are ready and want to take it, but I think they just wanted to get it over with," said Atkins.
The Ohio Department of Education and Workforce confirmed the outage was over at noon. It sent this statement:
The Test Administration interface was unavailable for a short period today. Cambium Assessment, the testing vendor, worked to resolve the issue quickly. The Department will work with districts and schools that may have had difficulties testing this morning.
"It's another day of time and effort; it's another day of loss of instruction," said Jim Lloyd, Superintendent of Olmsted Falls City Schools.
Lloyd said he is eager to hear an explanation from the state, "there needs to be some accountability; we certainly have a lot on us; there needs to be some on them as well."
Olmsted Falls City Schools plans to resume testing on Thursday.
