- Eagle Mountain-Saginaw Independent School District
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Online English 1 EOC for In-Person Learners Begins April 13, April 14 for Remote Learners
Updated 3:45 pm Tuesday, April 6, 2021
The district has not yet received a status update from the state regarding the ETS online testing system. Therefore, due to the uncertainty of tomorrow’s state online testing availability, EMS ISD leaders have decided to cancel all online STAAR/EOC testing for tomorrow, Wednesday, April 7. This applies to both in-person and remote testers.
The online writing tests for fourth and seventh grades, originally scheduled for Tuesday, will be taken this Thursday, April 8. The English 1 EOC for in-person learners will be Tuesday, April 13, and remote learners will take the English 1 EOC on campus on Wednesday, April 14.
The plan for the English II EOC exam will follow the regularly scheduled testing dates of Thursday, April 8, for in-person learners and Friday, April 9, for remote learners.
District leaders understand this situation is frustrating for students, families, and our campus and district employees, and that many questions remain unanswered. As this is a state accountability system, the district must wait on the Texas Education Agency for additional guidance. Updates on this issue will be posted to this page as information becomes available.
Published Tuesday, April 6, 2021
This morning the Texas Education Agency’s online testing system experienced connectivity outages, which caused testing issues in EMS ISD and statewide. Students who were taking a state exam online today were not able to complete their test or even begin testing. This disruption is a state issue with their system, not due to the district’s network. The TEA is working with their private testing firm, ETS, to correct the connectivity issues, but we do not have a timeline for restoration.
As a result, online testing has been suspended for the rest of today.
Exams scheduled for today are writing for fourth and seventh grades, and high school English 1. The majority of fourth-grade students are not affected because they are taking their writing STAAR on paper, and they will complete their exam today. The majority of students in seventh and ninth grades are taking their STAAR/EOC online and are affected by the outages. The district is waiting for information from ETS on when these students will be able to resume testing on a future day. Remote students who are on campus for online testing have been released to return home for the remainder of the day.
District leaders are contacting the TEA and ETS about our concerns on this issue. The TEA has posted a statement on their website. Updates on this issue will be posted to this page as information becomes available.