Students have to retake SOLs due to glitch

I’m not sure whether SOLs are a good thing or a bad thing. Regardless, they are here and I understand an awful lot of time goes into preparing the students to take these tests. I would imagine that the students just want to get these tests over and done with.

As much of a computer geek as I am, I know that systems have their limitations. It is why I resist internet-only applications in my business. There are too many opportunities for failure, and , after all, access to the internet is not 100% guaranteed.

Some 1,000 students learned that lesson yesterday when their computers crashed in the middle of testing. As the article points out, this was the second time this year that there have been problems with online testing. This time, the problem was “a constricted connection” between the two servers that are used for the testing. My guess? The servers couldn’t handle the load.

The number of students using the [online] service has increased from 10,000 in 2001 to about 1.2 million last year.

I have no doubt that the service provider, Pearson Educational Management, thought that they had sufficient capacity to handle things. But, like everything else, until it was actually used, they really didn’t know.

Over-reliance on technology is just as bad as under-reliance. I feel sorry for those students who have to take the tests again.