HELENA — Montana will keep doing business with a testing company despite technical flaws this year that likely dropped the state below a required participation rate, Montana’s top education official said.
The decision came as state Superintendent of Public Instruction Denise Juneau announced Thursday that about 82 percent of Montana’s public-school students took the assessments provided electronically by Measured Progress.
If the figure is confirmed by the federal government, 2015 would be the first year Montana has failed to reach the 95 percent participation rate required under the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act.
Juneau made the tests voluntary about two weeks into the process after widespread technical glitches made the exams nearly impossible at some schools.
“For statewide tests that were optional for schools to give, the idea that we still got an 82 percent participation rate I think is significant and I think shows Montana schools want that information” Juneau said.
Juneau said the problems stemmed from Smarter Balanced, a consortium that crafts Common Core tests, and the social science organization American Institutes for Research. She applauded Measured Progress — the test provider that contracted with Montana, Nevada and North Dakota — for working with Montana officials throughout the complications.
“I can honestly say that they did their best at addressing all the problems that were laid out for them as a part of the process and platform that was given to them,” Juneau said of Measured Progress.
Nevada filed breach of contract notices with Measured Progress and Smarter Balanced in April for botching their exams. No such action has been taken by Montana officials and nothing has come of a discussion that Juneau had in April with state Attorney General Tim Fox.
The U.S. Department of Education will conduct a final assessment of state participation rates in the coming months.
Given the technical glitches that at least a dozen states experienced this year, the federal agency could decide to lower the threshold of what counts as test completion and, therefore, states’ participation rates to avoid funding cuts.
“We have not made any decisions, as many states are still testing students and will not send us data until later in the summer,” Dorie Nolt, U.S. Department of Education press secretary, said in an email.