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Matt Sepic
ST. PAUL, Minn.

Online glitches interrupt MCA testing

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Server glitches interrupted online administering of the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment test Tuesday. However students who were not able to finish may resume their exams on Wednesday.

A spokesman says about 15,000 students were taking the test when the first of two server slowdowns happened. Schools using paper tests were not affected.

It's not clear how many students were unable to complete the exam, said Jon Cohen, executive vice president of American Institutes for Research, the nonprofit that administers the MCA for the state.

Cohen said the problem appears to be resolved and that technicians will be continue monitoring the system.

"We are going to have a team of people monitoring the servers in real time and we'll get information directly to the test administrators immediately if we see any signs of anything going wrong," Cohen said.

Students will be allowed to resume the exam where they left off or start it over again, Charlene Briner, Minnesota Department of Education spokeswoman, said.

"That's going to be students and teachers looking at how far they got into the test and making a determination about what's best for the student," Briner said.

Some students in St. Paul public schools were also affected. School districts have a two-month window up until mid-May to administer the tests.

Anoka-Hennepin Schools spokeswoman Mary Olson says most students in the district were not affected.

"We had 200, 300 students who are receiving special education services impacted because they take the online test," Olson said. "Our other students take the paper/pencil tests because we do not have enough lab time available."