Dept. of Education announces plan to award statewide testing contract

NASHVILLE — The Tennessee Department of Education has announced that the department intends to award a statewide testing contract to large-scale assessment provider Questar.

Commission Candice McQueen announced Wednesday that the department plans to award Questar a contract to develop and administer the state’s annual assessments for the 2016-17 school year.

The company will develop and administer the 2016-17 assessments as part of the state’s Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program, or TCAP, according to a release from the department.

McQueen says in the release that the state will phase in online administration over multiple years to ensure state, district and vendor technology readiness.

For the upcoming school year, the state assessment for grades 3-8 will be administered via paper and pencil, according to the release.

The department will work with Questar to provide an online option for high school end-of-course exams if both schools and the testing platform demonstrate proof of successful online administration, the release states.

Questar currently develops and administers large-scale annual assessments for other states including Indiana, Missouri, Mississippi and New York, according to the release.

We’ll have more details on the plans this evening on WBBJ 7 Eyewitness news at 6.