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ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota's $38 million contract with a vendor to run its online proficiency testing system is encountering glitches that have school officials worried ahead of the spring testing season.
During recent practice testing, school officials across Minnesota found that the online portal that Pearson uses to administer tests was outdated, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported Sunday (http://bit.ly/1AXHcnM ). Many officials were shocked when Pearson suggested that schools run their computers online in what they consider an unsecure mode.
One of the main problems involved incompatibilities between Apple computers, which are popular with school districts, and Pearson's system. Apple's standard Safari Web browser and Pearson's TestNav testing portal don't play well together.
Pearson's system relies on versions of Java and Flash software that are no longer supported by Apple's browser and will work only if security is disabled on students' computers.
"I was very surprised they rolled out a memo that said just turn your security off," said Dave Heistad, director of assessment, evaluation and research for Bloomington schools. "That blew me away. I couldn't believe a multimillion-dollar company would roll something out that wasn't secure."
Leonard Jacobs, a local computer security expert, said both Java and Flash are notorious for their vulnerabilities and need updates.
Apple and other companies have been moving away from Java and Flash because of their problems.
Kevin McHenry, Minnesota assistant education commissioner, said state legislation mandating online testing did not leave schools with alternatives.
"We want to make this as smooth as possible and we are working with Pearson to minimize any issues that may arise," McHenry said.
Carol Everson, Pearson's vice president of state services, acknowledged that the company should have been more specific about its system requirements. She said the company already has developed alternatives for schools and is in routine contact with them to address problems that come up.
"We take testing extremely seriously," Everson said.
This isn't the first time Minnesota has had trouble with Pearson. Results from a state science test were delayed in 2010 because of a scoring error. A decade earlier, a judge awarded Minnesota an $11 million settlement after 45,000 graduation tests were incorrectly graded.
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Information from: St. Paul Pioneer Press, http://www.twincities.com
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