Tennessee students may soon be taking standardized tests with paper and pencil. The Department of Education has offered a two-year, $60 million contract to Questar Assessment to administer standardized testing to students from third through eighth grades beginning in the 2016-17 school year.
The Tennessean reports TDE would also work with Questar to provide an online option for year-end high school exams if students and the testing platform demonstrate proof of successful online administration. The deal will be finalized in seven days.
In April, the TDE canceled a five-year, $108 million contract with Measurement Inc. to administer TNReady online tests statewide. Measurement Inc.'s online platform couldn't meet the demand, and the company later couldn't provide enough paper exams on time.
