TNReady online test may have experienced 'deliberate attack,' state's education chief says

High school testing was halted Tuesday in many districts across Tennessee after revelations of a possible "deliberate attack" on computer systems, the latest in a series of problems surrounding the TNReady assessment in recent years.

The company contracted to handle the online portion of the test reported the irregularities Tuesday morning, Tennessee Education Commissioner Candice McQueen said in an email Tuesday morning to school directors.

"To our knowledge, no student data has been compromised," McQueen said.

The disruption came as districts around the state grappled with unrelated problems plaguing the online test for the second day. It also prompted numerous school districts to cancel or halt testing on Tuesday, including Hamilton, Knox and Williamson county schools.

► More: TNReady online test frustrates Williamson families, school officials

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At the same time, House lawmakers Tuesday demanded immediate action.

House representatives passed two amendments to HB1109 in an attempt to urgently change a multi-million dollar testing system tormented by flaws over the last several years. The bill will be heard Wednesday in the House Finance, Ways and Means committee. Democrats called for McQueen to resign.

► More: Tennessee drops two high school TNReady tests to reduce the burden on teachers and students

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“We can’t keep doing this,” said Rep. Jeremy Faison, R-Cosby, regarding problems with TNReady.

“We’ve got to protect our students, out teachers and our school districts. Why in the world are we putting this pressure on them to use this test as an evaluation for our teachers, our school districts, our students? It’s been flawed for four years now.”

McQueen said in her emails to directors that the Tennessee Department of Education wants to continue with online testing. More than 129,000 test sessions have been completed statewide, she said.

And the state will extend the online testing window by three extra school days, McQueen said.

"But we understand that this has presented challenges to scheduling and morale," she said.

And Questar Assessment, the state's testing vendor, continues to take steps to prevent a repeat attack, McQueen said.

"Questar has blocked the source of the unusual traffic patterns, and they continue to implement ways to prevent a recurrence," she said. "We will be diligently monitoring."

High school students are required to take TNReady online

High schoolers and some middle school students are taking the online test this year. Elementary school students are taking the pencil and paper version of the test — they are unaffected by the issues

Williamson County Schools was one of the first to cancel online testing for the day and postponed testing on Wednesday.

"We hope to resume testing on Thursday," the district said in a tweet.

Knox County Schools canceled testing soon after Williamson. Spokeswoman Carly Harrington said the district will try on Wednesday to access online testing.

"But we will also wait until we get additional information from the state to ensure the situation is resolved," she said.

Metro Nashville Public Schools officials said some students have been able to access the tests and those who have will finish the testing. Shelby County Schools officials reported high school students were having issues taking the test.

On Monday, Tennessee high school students experienced trouble logging into the online system, but Questar quickly fixed the issue

Lakeland Superintendent Ted Horrell said he has "concerns about the validity of the tests that do go through."

"Our concern is that we've had such massive irregularities and it was not a typical testing environment, because we by necessity had to interrupt students and teachers" to help with technical issues, he said.

Horrell said the state said the data should be stored in the system, even if the answers couldn't immediately be submitted, so students would not have to retake the tests they've already completed.

"We know we won't do any more testing today, no matter what, which means we'll have to shuffle schedules," he said.

Lawmakers react to the 'deliberate attack'

House Republican Caucus Chairman Rep. Ryan Williams, R-Cookeville, said Tuesday he believes the security breach was an isolated incident and should be viewed as such, as opposed to an overall problem with the TNReady system.

“I do know, being briefed by the governor’s staff, that there was a security breach this morning. That’s dramatically different from not working,” he said. “They were hacked, and the security protocols for being hacked are that they have shut the data server down.”

► More: TNReady Day 2 another false start for Shelby County students; legislator frustrated

► More: Knox County Schools suspends TNReady testing after state reports online test may have experienced 'deliberate attack'

Williams said he would be more amenable to a bill to address the issue if the problem were related to testing procedures. He said a cyberattack could happen to anyone.

"It happens in retail all the time,” Williams said. “But the system works. They shut it down, and that’s why there is a delay.”

Faison, the House Government Operations Committee chairman, said he’s more skeptical of what occurred. Faison introduced an amendment to HB1109 that won't hold students or districts accountable for the test results this year.

“We don’t know if it is a security breach or not. That hasn’t been proven. That’s been alleged,” he said. “We don’t know that’s what it is or not. I guess I’m just reserving right now trying to figure out what is going on.”

Rep. William Lamberth, R-Cottontown, said his amendment, which is also part of the bill, will end online testing altogether this year and instead use only paper tests. Lamberth said the paper tests are proven to work, unlike the online platform.

"It's been four years and we have had two different vendors that made attempt an to move to the online computerized format and they have failed miserably ..." Lamberth said.

Top House Democrats also weighed in on the week's issues, blasting McQueen and the Tennessee Department of Education. They asked McQueen to resign.

"It is time to hold our commissioner of education accountable. She has given this test year after year and she has gotten an 'F,'" said John Ray Clemmons, D-Nashville. "This should come as no surprise to the commissioner of education. The frustration is growing."

Students that began taking tests were able to finish

McQueen announced the "attack" on Questar Assessment's system at about 10 a.m.

"It appears Questar's data center may have experienced a deliberate attack this morning based on the way traffic is presenting itself," she said in the email.

Questar immediately reset the system and McQueen warned the attacker may take these same steps again. She asked that if students were able to get into the system to take the test that they finish and to document which machine was used for testing.

"The software is designed to save students’ work, so if their testing session is disrupted, they can resume and submit their answers later," she said. "We will notify you when the system is back up, and the students can return to that device and submit."

The first- and second-day issues come two years after the state tried online TNReady testing in spring 2016. That year, the state's testing vendor experienced server problems that led to the eventual cancellation of online testing statewide.

The assessment in 2016 ended up being canceled altogether in elementary and middle school grades. High school students were able to take a paper and pencil TNReady test.

After the issues, the state fired its vendor, Measurement Inc., and hired Questar to administer the test. The state has been phasing in the online portion of TNReady, with every high school student slated to take the test online this year.

Melanie Balakit, Jordan Buie and Jennifer Pignolet contributed.

Reach Jason Gonzales at jagonzales@tennessean.com and on Twitter @ByJasonGonzales.