How will NC schools test student reading skills? Judge’s decision offers no clarity.
North Carolina’s elementary schools are left uncertain how to test their students to comply with the Read To Achieve law, just as they’re supposed to begin the tests this month.
On Tuesday, Superior Court Judge Mary Ann Tally said she would not lift the state Department of Information Technology’s stay that blocks Istation from getting the new three-year, $8.3 million Read To Achieve testing contract. Her decision is leaving state and local education officials scrambling to find a way to meet the state requirements to test students.
“Today, a superior court said it shouldn’t consider the concerns raised by the handling of this protest until after NC DIT’s final decision,” State Superintendent Mark Johnson said in a statement Tuesday. “Now, with both the courts and our schools held up, we are exploring other options to ensure that students, teachers, and parents continue to have access to a reading diagnostic tool this year. “
It’s unclear what the other options might be. Under Read To Achieve, elementary students are supposed to test K-3 students throughout the school year to assess their reading skills.
Year-round elementary schools began testing students using Istation in December. Traditional-calendar elementary schools are supposed to do their first round of official Read To Achieve testing in January.
Since the Read To Achieve program began in 2013, K-3 students have read out loud to their teachers while the teachers use Amplify Education’s mClass program to assess their skills.
But in June, Johnson announced he was awarding the new Read To Achieve testing contract to Istation, which tests students on a computer program, with the results being provided to teachers.
Committee decision at odds with superintendent
The decision to switch programs has been controversial, with teachers across the state questioning the change.
Public records show an evaluation committee formed by Johnson had ranked mClass ahead of Istation.
Johnson has accused the evaluation committee of “employing biased procedures” that benefited Amplify and having made false statements about Istation. He also said that some committee members violated the confidentiality of the procurement process by discussing it with outsiders.
Johnson went on to form a new committee that recommended Istation.
Amplify appealed the decision to DIT, which granted the stay in August while it heard the appeal of the contract. Due to the stay, Johnson worked out a deal with Istation to train teachers for free in the new program. But that agreement expired in December.
On Dec. 9, Jonathan Shaw, the chief counsel for DIT, upheld the stay, saying there’s sufficient information to believe the state Department of Public Instruction violated the law and “jeopardized the integrity and fairness of the procurement process.” Johnson responded with a blistering statement accusing Shaw of being incompetent and making “factual errors” in his order.
DPI appealed to Superior Court, saying that their ability to provide students with their state Constitutional right to a sound basic education would be harmed if the stay wasn’t lifted. Wake County Superior Court Judge Graham Shirley issued a temporary stay on the DIT order on Dec. 23, with a hearing scheduled for Tuesday.
Tally, a judge in Cumberland County who heard legal arguments Tuesday, said she didn’t believe she had jurisdiction in the case.
“We are pleased that the Superior Court judge made a decision that keeps the focus on due process and a swift resolution on the merits of our case,” Larry Berger, Amplify’s CEO, said in a statement Tuesday.
Istation expressed disappointment with Tally’s decision. Kieran Shanahan, Istaton’s attorney, said the judge was “simply wrong” to contradict Shirley on the jurisdiction issue.
“This contract protest is winding through unchartered territory not of Istation’s making,” Shanahan said in a statement. “Istation was legally and appropriately awarded the assessment contract by the Department of Public Instruction in June.”
This story was originally published January 7, 2020 at 3:10 PM.
