Gov. Haslam talks TNReady problems at roundtable discussion

DYER, Tenn. — After a slew of problems with the TN Ready tests last year, Governor Bill Haslam is on a listening tour aimed at fixing problems with the state’s assessment tests.

He says the assessments have experienced a lot of problems.

“The issues are around the technical implementation, particularly the online version,” Haslam said. “Unfortunately, our vendor wasn’t prepared to handle the volume.”

Haslam, along with Education Commissioner Candice McQueen, met with educators from across west Tennessee Tuesday in Gibson County.

They listened to their concerns surrounding the TN Ready assessment tests.

“We need to know how well our students are doing, how they compare to students and other places,” Haslam said. “But to do that, we need an assessment that works.”

Governor Haslam says he is committed to getting the TN Ready right before he leaves office in January.

“We will have a new governor and new administration  all next spring,” he said. “We want to do everything we can to get it ready for them.”

Despite the problems, Governor Haslam said pausing the tests is not an answer.

“It’s actually a federal requirement number one, and number two we want to assess how we are doing,” he said.

Education commissioner Candice McQueen says this was the sixth stop on the round table tour.

She says hearing from educators around the state will help her team improve the tests.

“Now we’re actually moving into a phase where the team will write a report and give some recommendations back to the department,” McQueen said.

With just months until students start preparing for this year’s testing, Governor Haslam said he’s hoping for a smooth roll out on the tests this spring.

“I think were on the right path, we have a lot of people diligent about fixing this issue,” he said.

Governor Haslam says the next phases of the process is to gather feedback from the listening tour and narrow down the requirements of the state’s next assessment vendor.