CLARENCE — What was supposed to be a routine week of New York state standardized testing recently turned into confusion and frustration for many students and school district staff across the state.
At Clarence Central School District, system-wide failure derailed assessments for students in third through fifth grade.
The delays were caused by technical issues from third-party vendor Questar Assessment, Inc. This left students and staff, including CSEA represented employees, scrambling to adapt and the entire school’s routine disrupted. Our union represents thousands of dedicated school employees across New York state.
CSEA Clarence Central School District Unit Recording Secretary Christine Rich-Reese was among the many school employees across the state who had to act quickly due to testing delays.
CSEA Clarence Central Schools Unit Recording Secretary and teaching assistant Christine Rich-Reese was assigned to monitor the hallways during testing.
“I was at my post making sure students were following the rules when we heard the announcement from the principal,” said Rich-Reese. “They told us there were issues logging into the system and the tests would be paused until we received further instructions.”
The problem was inconsistent across classrooms.
“Some kids were able to log in and start; others weren’t,” said Rich-Reese. “Then the ones who started, couldn’t get it to work after being paused. It was chaos.”
As the tests were postponed until early May, students and staff were asked to carry the stress of the high stakes testing through their spring break, something Rich-Reese said is unfair.
“Post-COVID, we emphasize emotional well-being,” said Rich-Reese. “But this was stressful. One student was upset because they had started the test, saw the question and now felt like they had to keep a secret.”
She also noted the disruption also impacted younger students.
“The whole building’s schedule was off,” said Rich-Reese. “Kindergarten through second grade was affected even though they weren’t testing.”
Despite the chaos, Rich-Reese praised the district’s communication. “Our principal and building administrators were fantastic,” said Rich-Reese.
But they were waiting on direction from the district, and district officials were waiting on the state. The major issue, she said, was the lack of a backup plan.
“Where was the option for pen and paper?” said Rich-Reese. “As teachers, we’re told to always have a backup plan when a lesson doesn’t work, but the state didn’t have one for thousands of tests?”
As someone who works in direct behavioral support, Rich-Reese said she noticed increased student anxiety and feels the responsibility of deescalating it as much as possible.
“Other teachers and I tried to use this as a life lesson moment,” said Rich-Reese. “You can’t always control what happens to you, but you can control how you respond.”
— Sara McNicholas
