PARCC Slams Pearson for New Jersey Shutdown

PARCC, Inc. slammed its New Jersey test vendor, Pearson, after a Pearson employee accidentally caused a system-wide shutdown that prevented thousands of students in New Jersey from taking the PARCC test Wednesday morning.

"We are disappointed by the disruptions. These kinds of mistakes are unacceptable," said Laura Slover, CEO of Parcc Inc. in a statement.

The error occurred after a Pearson employee actually tried to improve the computerized testing system Tuesday night, a Pearson spokeswoman said. However, instead of making it better, the employee unwittingly introduced a technical glitch that shut down the whole system.

The New Jersey Department of Education hired Pearson to administer the controversial PARCC test, which students take on computers. However, instead of logging on, thousands of students stared at blank screens Wednesday morning when the PARCC system crashed, leaving PARCC and the state education commissioners livid.

"Mistakes like the one that occurred today are indefensible. It is important to us that these tests be administered in a way that eliminates avoidable disruptions and inconveniences, and earlier today, leaders from New Jersey and Parcc Inc. delivered that message to Pearson in the strongest possible terms," Slover added.

The shutdown was "totally unacceptable. This is not a problem on our end. This is a problem on Pearson's end," said New Jersey's Education Commissioner David Hespe. "We will hold Person accountable for their failures today."

Pearson apologizes; mistake still not fixed

Pearson, the standardized testing service headquartered in Princeton, issued an apologetic mea culpa Wednesday.

"This was a technical glitch introduced by a Pearson employee," said Pearson spokeswoman Laura Howe. "Last night, in an effort to optimize performance of the test administration system used in New Jersey, Pearson made some adjustments that were deployed Tuesday night through Wednesday morning. In doing this, Pearson introduced an unexpected problem that restricted access to the administrative system. We are correcting the issue and will work to ensure it does not happen again."

The problem still hadn't been resolved as of Wednesday evening, when Patch first published this article, but normal testing resumed Thursday morning with no additional slowdowns or delays, a Pearson spokesman said.

"Our internal review into what went wrong is not yet complete," Howe said, but added that "Every resource at our disposal is being directed toward identifying the cause of the problem and correcting it as soon as possible."

"Pearson is truly sorry," she added.