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North Hills board says statewide PSSA platform failure disrupted testing for about 2,400 students, asks PDE for answers
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Summary
At its April 23 meeting, North Hills officials said a failure of the DRC online testing platform disrupted PSSA testing for roughly 2,400 students in grades 3–8, and the district has asked the Pennsylvania Department of Education for a full explanation, guidance on reporting and student accountability, and language to share with families.
At its April 23 legislative meeting, the North Hills Board of Education described widespread disruptions to PSSA testing on April 21 that it attributes to a statewide failure of the DRC online testing platform and asked the Pennsylvania Department of Education for transparency and guidance.
Board member Missus Mathis told attendees the district has formally communicated concerns to PDE and asked the state to acknowledge the outage’s scope, explain the cause, and outline steps to stabilize testing for the remainder of the window. “We have also requested guidance on how this disruption will be addressed in terms of student data, reporting, and accountability measures given the compromised testing conditions,” Mathis said.
District officials said North Hills prepared extensively for the digital exam and tested its local infrastructure in advance. “We knew our students were prepared,” said Dr. Mannarino, who told the board that when the outage began the vendor initially blamed local districts before acknowledging a larger, statewide problem. Mannarino said teachers and administrators spent the testing period helping students cope with confusion and stress.
Dr. Williams, who recounted scenes from the middle school, said approximately 2,400 North Hills students in grades 3 through 8 attempted the high-stakes exam and experienced repeated logouts, frozen submission pages and connectivity problems that persisted beyond an initial 40-minute window. She described students and teachers becoming visibly upset and said testing tools such as the on-screen highlighter did not work reliably. “This is a test designed to measure student achievement that did not accomplish that under these conditions,” Williams said. “This data doesn’t mean anything to me on this test as we move forward.”
District leaders asked PDE to clarify whether scores from affected sessions will be used for accountability decisions, to provide technical details about the outage and to supply wording the district can share with families to restore confidence in the process. The board emphasized that North Hills met state expectations for readiness and that any policy or reporting decisions should reflect the compromised testing environment.
The board did not take formal action on this item at the meeting; officials said they would continue to press PDE and the testing vendor for a full accounting and for direction the district can give families and staff.
Provenance: Topic introduced by Missus Mathis (board comment) SEG 012; main district statements and examples by Dr. Mannarino and Dr. Williams run SEG 046–SEG 324.
