State, ISTEP+ Vendor Negotiating Over 2013 Glitch

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana education officials are negotiating with CTB/McGraw-Hill over widespread disruptions that knocked thousands of students off last year's online ISTEP+ tests.

The state has said it wants more than $600,000 for the problems, but it's unlikely to see a cash payout. McGraw-Hill Education spokesman Brian Belardi tells The Indianapolis Star  that the damages will be covered by credits for ongoing, past and future services.

CTB/McGraw-Hill is in the final year of a four-year, $95 million contract to administer the test.

A report released in July found about 80,000 students in third through eighth grade had at least one part of the statewide standardized test interrupted when server glitches from CTB/McGraw-Hill kicked them offline. That's about 16 percent of all students who took the test.