Technical woes struck three states last week as they tried to administer Smarter Balanced exams in English/language arts and math.
The Montana education department announced April 15 that schools could choose not to administer the exams. Superintendent of Public Instruction Denise Juneau said the decision is meant to take pressure off districts, although she still expects most schools to ultimately give them.
Similar problems also hit test-takers in Nevada and North Dakota. Nevada suspended testing on April 15 after experiencing problems the previous day as well. Measured Progress, which administered the tests in all three states, said its servers could not accommodate the number of students who came online to take the exams.
