Amid coronavirus concerns, NC Board of Education delays vote on testing contract
The State Board of Education held off Wednesday approving a contract extension to give an additional $1.2 million to a company to test the reading skills of elementary school students.
North Carolina’s $928,570 emergency contract to use Istation to test K-3 students under the Read To Achieve program expires March 31. Citing questions such as cost and whether the program is needed while schools are closed due to coronavirus, the state board postponed Wednesday’s vote to extend the contract through July 31.
“I’m concerned about how we’re protecting the taxpayers given the significantly escalated cost that’s been presented here, especially at a time when we’re probably going to be trying to pinch every penny to figure out how we address coronavirus, our economy and the schools,” said state board member JB Buxton.
Since the Read To Achieve program began in 2013, K-3 students had been reading out loud to their teachers while the teachers use Amplify Education’s mClass program to assess their skills.
In June, State Superintendent Mark Johnson announced he was awarding the three-year, $8.3 million Read To Achieve testing contract to Istation, which tests students on a computer program, with the results being provided to teachers.
Amplify appealed the contract to the state Department of Information Technology, which put a stay on the contract in August. DIT held a hearing in January and a decision is expected soon on the three-year contract.
Citing the need to comply with Read To Achieve, Johnson approved the emergency contract with Istation in January.
Like many other issues, coronavirus impacted Wednesday’s discussion. North Carolina K-12 public schools are closed through at least March 30 to try to slow the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by coronavirus.
“Is there a benefit of entering into this contract at all at this point given the uncertainty of where we are in terms of the ability to have our students get the kind of instruction typically we want and the ability to exercise any further assessments with fidelity that would be desired?” said Alan Duncan, vice chairman of the state board.
Tara Galloway, director of K-3 literacy at the state Department of Public Instruction, said that Istation may be willing to open up use of the program for families who are home during the closures.
This story was originally published March 18, 2020 at 7:31 PM with the headline "Amid coronavirus concerns, NC Board of Education delays vote on testing contract."
