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MPR News Staff

MN student testing vendor cuts pay to settle fight over problems

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Updated 6:30 p.m. | Posted 1:57 p.m.

Minnesota's student testing contractor will take $1 million off its new three-year contract and add up to $4.7 million in services to settle with the state over a spate of spring testing glitches.

Pearson, the vendor, also said it will move Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments testing next year to a new platform they say will guard against the online attacks and other Pearson server problems that plagued the system this spring.

Those problems included several days of technical disruptions and malicious, third-party "denial of service" attacks intended to overload and slow Pearson's system, the Minnesota Department of Education said in a statement Monday announcing the settlement.

In recent weeks the department has been negotiating with the company over how to make amends for the delays.

Spokesperson Josh Collins said the department feels good about the settlement the two sides agreed to.

"I think what we've arrived at here is a settlement that is appropriate, it's sizable, and I believe it recognizes and acknowledges how significant those disruptions were," he said.

Collins said the agreement with Pearson also includes assurances that similar problems won't happen again, "so we don't have a repeat of these types of disruptions."

The problems triggered widespread anger among local school district officials, who were frustrated by the technical woes during the testing season.

The $1 million off what was a new three-year $40.8 million contract comes in the form of a credit to the state education department.

As part of the settlement, Pearson also agreed to pay for a study to determine the testing options for a new writing exam required by the 2015 Legislature and provide additional training and support to school districts.

"The disruptions experienced by students and teachers this spring were simply unacceptable," Education Commissioner Brenda Cassellius said in a statement. "Pearson has been working with us in good faith to arrive at this significant settlement that provides us with assurances, and recognizes the magnitude of the impacts that the failures had on the state."

Pearson officials said in a statement they were "pleased that we could bring a positive resolution to this issue" and happy to continue as the state's testing vendor. Pearson said it will move the MCAs to a more secure cloud-based testing system.

The head of the statewide teachers union said Pearson's problems should leave parents skeptical of test results.

"If we really care about helping all students succeed, we would scale back on this obsession with testing and restore the weeks of teaching and learning lost to test prep and administration," Education Minnesota President Denise Specht said in a statement.

"While we don't think the settlement is high enough given the widespread frustrations and anxiety caused by the technical glitches, at least Pearson is willing to take some responsibility for the disruptions," she added.