ELA testing disruptions continue for second day on Long Island, statewide

Disruptions in the state's testing system persisted in schools on Long Island and statewide for the second consecutive day Wednesday, a situation that education officials in Albany called "unacceptable."

The issues were being felt in elementary and middle schools that had sche duled computerized English Language Arts testing this month for tens of thousands of students. Glitches first broke out Tuesday morning, in some cases leading to postponements for students either in the midst of testing or waiting to be assessed. 

State Department of Education spokesman JP O'Hare issued a statement Wednesday apologizing to schools, students and families and acknowledging that some systems had suffered "the loss of two testing days." O'Hare placed the blame on the state's testing vendor, NWEA, a private nonprofit testing agency based in Portland, Oregon.

"We have been in contact with NWEA leadership to demand answers for why this situation has occurred and solutions to ensure that students will not be impacted any further during the spring 2025 testing window," O'Hare said.

The window for this year's tests, which are administered over two days, was initially scheduled to start April 7 and end May 16. It has now been extended by one week, to May 23, O'Hare said. 

An NWEA representative, Simona Beattie, told Newsday in a message Wednesday that the agency's technology team had made "an immediate fix" Tuesday, but had then seen "recurrences" Wednesday. 

She said that about 136,000 tests statewide had been completed successfully by students as of noon Wednesday, but she could not estimate how many schools or districts had experienced problems.

"We take disruptions to testing very seriously and apologize to the students and teachers impacted," Beattie wrote. She added that NWEA was coordinating with the state education department to provide details on the cause of the issues and the steps the agency was taking "to ensure this does not happen moving forward."

Island-wide disruptions

On Long Island, testing disruptions were reported in the Bayport-Blue Point, Brentwood, East Meadow, Levittown, Massapequa, Shoreham-Wading River and South Huntington districts.

In Brentwood, the region's largest school system, Superintendent Wanda Ortiz-Rivera told parents in a message Wednesday that the education department was "once again" experiencing technical issues with computerized testing. 

Brentwood had scheduled ELA testing for about 7,900 students in grades three through eight. Due to postponements, testing will now be held April 22 through April 25, local officials said.

Robert Haas, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction at the Bayport-Blue Point School District, said technical testing issues began Tuesday and continued into Wednesday. While the middle school was able to complete the assessment, Haas told parents that elementary school students were unable to log in.

The middle school, he said, will continue with Day 2 of the exam Thursday, while the elementary school will take the test after spring break next week.

The Massapequa School District was also affected by the glitches both Tuesday and Wednesday, said schools Superintendent William Brennan.

While many students at Berner Middle School and district elementary schools completed the exams, some other students could not begin the exam, he told parents. The district, he said, will pause testing until after the break.

“This situation is incredibly frustrating due to the loss of instructional time and the time invested in preparing for this test administration,” Brennan wrote. “Additionally, there are now questions about the validity of this assessment which we hope will be addressed once we receive further guidance from the state.”

In a letter to parents Wednesday, Kristi Detor, principal of Woodland Middle School in East Meadow, said students were "unable to complete the exam" after technical difficulties were experienced with Nextera, the testing platform.

The Chromebooks of students taking the exam were stored in testing rooms and part one of the ELA has been rescheduled for Thursday, she said. But with students coming up on spring break, the district has postponed the second portion of the exam until April 25.

Officials in the South Huntington school district said the statewide ELA testing issues postponed the first day of assessments.

“We are currently awaiting guidance from the New York State Education Department regarding the next steps,” William Hender and Amanda Kavanagh from the district’s Office of Curriculum and Instruction wrote in a letter to parents.

A new date to take the exam will be selected sometime after spring break, they wrote.

ELA tests are taken annually by more than 900,000 students in grades three through eight. That includes more than 110,000 students on the Island. 

State testing in both English and math takes place in April and May. In many districts, testing is fully computerized. Other districts use a combination of digital and paper exams. Full computerization statewide is due to be in place by spring 2026. 

Robert Lowry, a spokesman for school superintendents statewide, said in a message to Newsday that disruptions were "frustrating for school officials but especially for students." 

"It’s of particular concern because it does raise questions about capacity to move forward with more advanced forms of computer-based testing that would give schools and families better information on a faster turnaround than traditional tests," added Lowry, who is deputy director for advocacy, research and communications for the New York State Council of School Superintendents.