The state鈥檚 education commissioner revealed on Wednesday the scope of a computer glitch that caused some students taking state standardized exams to lose their answers.
Commissioner Mike Morath told the State Board of Education that by the glitch. A Texas Education Agency spokeswoman told the Tribune鈥檚 Kiah Collier that nearly 8,800 of the affected exams given to special-education students.
Districts across the state reported that responses given online were disappearing after students logged out, occurring sometimes after 30 minutes of inactivity or a lost internet connection.
Collier noted the problems began cropping up on the first day of testing for the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, or STAAR, exam, 鈥� against a standardized testing regime that many parents and educators believe is already too stressful.鈥�
Collier added, 鈥淚f the problem isn't solved by May, Morath said the state with Educational Testing Services, the New Jersey-based company it last year to develop and administer the state-required exams. The decision to hire ETS made waves as London-based Pearson had held the contract since Texas began requiring state student assessments in the 1980s.鈥�
