Published: December 19, 2018

THE TENNESSEE COMPTROLLER'S OFFICE RELEASED IT'S AUDIT ON THE T-N-READY STUDENT TESTING SYSTEM THIS WEEK.  T-N-READY EXPERIENCED A HOST OF ISSUES DURING TESTING OF THE STATE'S STUDENTS EARLIER THIS YEAR.  PROBLEMS WERE FIRST EXPERIENCED ON APRIL 16TH AND CONTINUED THROUGH THE REMAINDER OF THE MONTH.  THE AUDIT REVEALED FIVE MAJOR ISSUES THAT INCLUDED THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION'S LACK OF SUFFICIENT INFORMATION ON ITS WORK PLAN WITH TESTING SYSTEM PROVIDER QUESTAR; QUESTAR'S DECISION TO MAKE UNAUTHORIZED CHANGES TO THE SOFTWARE'S TEXT TO SPEECH PROGRAM; QUESTAR'S FAILURE TO SUFFICIENTLY STAFF CUSTOMER SUPPORT WHICH LEAD TO EXTENDED CALL WAIT TIMES AND A HIGH NUMBER OF ABANDONED CALLS; A FAILURE TO TRACK, DOCUMENT, AND PROVIDE STATUS UPDATES TO SCHOOL DISTRICTS ON WHEN STUDENTS' TESTS WOULD BE RECOVERED; AND INADEQUATE EVALUATION AND MONITORING OF INTERNAL CONTROLS IMPLEMENTED BY EXTERNAL I-T SERVICE PROVIDERS.  THE FULL REPORT ON THE MATTER IS AVAILABLE ON THE TENNESSEE COMPTROLLER'S WEBSITE.