Online literacy test cancelled after technical issues
Posted Oct 20, 2016 11:54:24 AM.
Last Updated Oct 20, 2016 12:06:05 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
High school students across the province attempted to take the standardized literacy test online for the first time today but ran into a computer glitch.
The Education Quality and Accountability Office has now cancelled today’s assessment.
It says it’s experiencing widespread technical issues.
On their website they say, “Further information will be provided to directors of education to help them communicate to their school communities shortly. We recognize all of the work that schools have done to prepare for this trial. We are disappointed at the outcome of this trial and sincerely apologize for this development.”
“When you’re looking at 10:45 in the morning and you’ve got students in classrooms, we really don’t know what the issue is. We can’t have students and teachers just basically sitting around waiting for a test to start that may never start today,” EQAO director Richard Jones explained to 570 NEWS as to why the decision was made to cancel the test.
The voluntary test was serving as a trial of the technical readiness of the EQAO and the schools to support online assessments, and was billed as a “risk-free” way for students to take it ahead of the next scheduled assessment in March 2017.
Initially, if students passed the online test, it would count, but if they failed or didn’t complete it, they would be considered “first-time eligible” for the test next spring. That is no longer the case, as the test was cancelled.
There were supposed to be two sittings for the test, each comprised of two 75-minute sessions. The program was open to all 72 school boards, as well as First Nations and private schools.
