Chicago Public Schools has postponed Wednesday’s high-stakes high school admissions test for thousands of students after the district’s private testing platform crashed during the exams.
The test is eighth graders’ chance at securing a seat in one of the city’s highly sought-after selective-enrollment high schools in a process likened to college admissions. CPS’ nearly 24,000 eighth graders were scheduled to take the exam on computers in schools Wednesday.
The school system has a $1.2 million contract with Riverside Assessments LLC, a northwest suburban Itasca-based company, to administer selective-enrollment tests.
CPS spokeswoman Samantha Hart confirmed the district was “pausing testing” after technical problems.
“We recognize the stress many students and families experience when it comes to admissions testing,” Hart said in a statement. “CPS leadership is working with our vendor to ensure their technical issues are resolved and to provide alternative testing dates for students who were impacted by the vendor’s technical issues. We will continue to provide updates to families and schools as soon as possible.”
Hart didn’t immediately say how many students couldn’t finish the test before the crash.
In an email to principals, CPS executive director of student assessment Peter Leonard said “any students currently testing successfully” could continue and finish the test. Others were told to stop.
Hart said officials don’t expect this weekend’s scheduled high school admissions test for non-CPS students to be affected. Kids who don’t attend CPS for eighth grade can take the test Saturday, Sunday or Oct. 21.
Families for years have complained about a cumbersome and stressful high school admissions process. And there have been concerns that students from low-income families and kids with disabilities are underrepresented in these elite schools.
The district tried to reform the process this year with a shortened test, a later school ranking deadline and better language accessibility.
“The reduced test length allows CPS to get the information needed on student performance for the admissions process while helping reduce anxiety for students and increasing accessibility,” a district spokeswoman said last month.
Students who completed the test Wednesday will be able to submit their scores — which they should get in November — with their application as planned. It wasn’t immediately clear if the process would go on as scheduled for students who couldn’t test Wednesday.
School offers are set to be released in the spring.
