Dive Brief:

• The Minnesota Department of Education will resume the state's computerized science proficiency exam Friday after an alleged "sophisticated hacking attempt" on Pearson's servers put 30,000 exams on hold. 
• This is the second time this testing season that the state has had to suspend testing, with a halt last month resulting from connectivity issues. 
• The exams are being administered by Pearson as part of a three-year, $38 million contract. 

Dive Insight:

Just last month, Pearson stated it had addressed computer glitches that had interrupted state testing over the course of two weeks. Now, students, teachers, and families are having to deal with the same stresses over again. What's more, however, is that this is not the first time the state has run into testing issues. The costly Pearson contract follows technical difficulties with digital exams from the American Institutes for Research (AIR) last year, and states should have every expectation and assurance that all steps to secure testing servers are being taken by the companies they contract.

As far as the previous connectivity issues, while those do sometimes occur on the testing contractor's end, it should also be taken into consideration that many schools nationwide still have sub-par digital infrastructure that may not be suited to handle the burden of mass computerized testing. It's an issue Barack Obama's ConnectED initiative and the FCC's E-rate program have been working to correct.

Of course, the time and energy wasted when these issues occur make them as problematic as the monetary cost. Much hinges on test scores, so any variable that distracts students from doing their best is problematic.