Education Commissioner announces TNReady changes

NASHVILLE, Tennessee (WDEF) – After another testing season of controversy, the Tennessee Education Department announces more changes for the TNReady contract.

The problems have been with moving the statewide tests online.

While thousands of Tennessee students took the tests this year without any problems, there were still major glitches.

Education Commissioner Candice McQueen announced three main changes.

— Opening up bids for a new vendor to administer the tests.

— Changing the contract with the current vendor, Questar, for the 2018-19 tests.

— Slowing down the transition to online testing.

McQueen has already taken the steps of eliminating two some of the tests, bringing in a third party to review Questar and simplifying how they give the tests.

“Teachers, students and families deserve a testing process they can have confidence in, and we are doing everything possible to meet that responsibility,” Commissioner McQueen said. “We are always committed to listening and improving, and we’ll continue to do just that.”

The political question facing the department is whether the TNReady program will survive a change of administrations.

Supporter Bill Haslam is leaving office next year, and several candidates have taken shots at the testing program during their campaign.