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The phone lines at PARCC's call center went down during morning testing on Tuesday. (Photo Illustration by Bumper DeJesus | The Star-Ledger)

The help line teachers can call for assistance during New Jersey's new computerized state tests went down for more than two hours this morning, according the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, better known as PARCC.

The phone lines at the PARCC call center went down shortly after 9 a.m. on a day when more than 500,000 students across the country are taking the new exams, PARCC spokesperson David Connerty-Marin. It's unclear why the phone lines were down, but questions were answered through email and chat format instead, Connerty-Marin said.

The phone lines were restored by noon, Connerty-Marin said.

Teachers and parents have feared technology problems with the new tests, and a glitch with PARCC's start button forced one school to postpone testing in February.

Monday marked the first day of widespread PARCC testing in New Jersey, and several schools said that testing went smoothly. Problems reported were primarily related to problems with districts' equipment and technology rather than the testing platform, according to the state.

At least one district, West Windsor-Plainsboro, had to postpone testing on Monday because of a technology issue. The test did not properly download to the district's server, said Gerri Hutner, the district's director of communications.

Testing began on Tuesday after the New Jersey Department of Education helped the district resolve the problem, Hutner said.

Adam Clark may be reached at adam_clark@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on twitter at @realAdamClark. Find NJ.com on Facebook.