Oregon's testing fiasco.

Byline: The Register-Guard

No doubt many students, and more than a few teachers, took quiet delight in watching the Oregon Department of Education's computerized statewide testing program crash. But besides illustrating a pitfall of reliance on standardized tests, the crash leaves a lot of wreckage. A tool for measuring student and school performance has been lost or rendered less reliable. The courts will have to determine who is responsible for the mess.

Oregon has used the online Technology Enhanced Statewide Assessment system, provided by contractor Vantage Learning of Newtown, Pa., since 2001. TESA worked well for five years. Hundreds of thousands of students in third through eighth grade, and in 10th grade, sat at computer keyboards to be tested in reading, math and science. The computerized system provided instant scoring, and allowed students to take the tests a second or third time.

This year, however, TESA began having problems. Information was erased, or students were cut off in the middle of a test. The state halted testing twice earlier this month. On March 9, Vantage shut down the system and posted a notice on the TESA Web site explaining that service had been suspended because the state had not paid its bills.

TESA's collapse means that students will take the reading and math tests with pencil and paper, perhaps as late as May. The science test won't be administered at all. Scores may not be available until fall.

There are good reasons to quarrel with the current obsession with testing in schools. But whatever value can be obtained from testing depends on consistency. Consistency has been compromised. The delay, and the fact that students can take the pencil-and-paper test only once, places an asterisk alongside a year's worth of test scores, and makes year-to-year comparisons problematic. Oregon may also have trouble complying with the testing requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

Vantage's actions in this matter deserve close examination. The company's four-year contract with the state was renewed for two years in 2005. Beyond 2007, the procurement rules of the Department of Administrative Services required that the contract be put out for bid. Last October, the Department of Education notified Vantage that its proposal had not been among those accepted as finalists. A week later, Vantage sent an invoice to the state for $1 million. In January the company canceled the contract, citing nonpayment of $2.8 million. TESA's problems began soon after.

Vantage traces TESA's problems to a system overload - too many students taking the computerized tests. It also bases at least part of its $2.8 million in invoices on claims that Oregon exceeded the contracted number of test-takers. A Department of Education spokesman points to an amendment to the contract that removed the limit on the number of tests. He also notes that the contract requires 90 days' notice of cancellation - which would mean Vantage is obliged to continue providing computerized testing services until late April. And Vantage did not begin dunning Oregon for unpaid bills until after it lost the state contract last year.

Last Wednesday the Department of Education sued Vantage, and the company promptly promised a countersuit. Legal action is usually best avoided, but in this case it offers the only hope of bringing the responsible party to account.

It's not certain that the contract dispute and TESA's crash are related. On that question, Oregonians will have to use their No. 2 pencils to fill in the oval marked "insufficient information to support a firm conclusion." But with the testing system on fire and legal smoke billowing all around, it's reasonable to look for a connection. For good or ill, Oregon and the nation have staked much of their educational reform efforts on testing. TESA's crash is more than an inconvenience - it risks blurring a vital measurement. The lines of responsibility must be traced to wherever they lead.