Stewart says Florida Standards Assessment resumed

When Florida’s students went to the state’s website to take their test today, the Commissioner of Education, Pam Stewart, informed local Historic City News reporters that their login information was rejected.

On investigation, Stewart reported that an apparently unauthorized change was made to the application software over the weekend, leading to this morning’s disruption of service.

“AIR’s President of Assessment notified me of a technical change that was made to the Florida Standards Assessment testing system that was not approved by the Department,” Stewart told reporters. “This change was unnecessary to the administration of the Florida Standards Assessment and resulted in a disruption that hindered students from being able to log in to the system and take their test today.”

As of noon today, the Department has updated their media release to confirm that, at this time, testing has resumed and the student’s login credentials will be accepted on the website.

“We have confirmed that students are currently testing; we will continue monitoring the situation,” Stewart said.

In a tersely worded comment on this morning’s situation, Stewart described the action taken by the state’s contractor, AIR, and their failure to follow protocol as “absolutely unacceptable”. She went on to say the Department “will hold AIR accountable for the disruption they have caused to our state’s students, teachers and school staff.”