{"id":214330,"date":"2026-04-29T18:26:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T18:26:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/214330\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T18:26:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T18:26:19","slug":"tech-glitches-disrupt-state-math-exams-across-new-york","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/214330\/","title":{"rendered":"Tech glitches disrupt state math exams across New York"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sign up for Chalkbeat New York\u2019s free daily newsletter<\/a> to get essential news about NYC\u2019s public schools delivered to your inbox.<\/p>\n

Students across New York were unable to log in to the digital platform for the state\u2019s grades 3-8 math exam Wednesday morning, raising fresh questions about the transition to computer-based assessments. <\/p>\n

The New York State Education Department told schools they could pause or delay the math tests, officials confirmed.<\/p>\n

The issue affected schools across the state, including some in New York City where schools were expected to administer the exams sometime between April 28 and May 8. <\/p>\n

\u201cMore than 116,000 students tested without error this morning, with thousands more expected to complete testing later today,\u201d state Education Department spokesperson JP O\u2019Hare wrote in a statement. \u201cSince the testing window opened, more than two million exams have been successfully submitted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Officials declined to provide specific numbers of affected students. But O\u2019Hare said it was a \u201climited number.\u201d<\/p>\n

Upon learning of the problem, O\u2019Hare added, \u201cNYSED immediately contacted our vendor, NWEA, to expeditiously address the issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

State officials said schools can administer the exams at a later point during the window, which runs through May 15. <\/p>\n

The city\u2019s messaging to caregivers struck a somewhat different tone. A letter principals were encouraged to distribute said \u201cmany\u201d students were unable to complete the test and \u201cwe are pausing the administration of the Math exam and will reschedule once we receive the assurances we need that no additional disruptions will occur.\u201d<\/p>\n

New York\u2019s multi-year transition to computer-based tests has been marred<\/a> by tech glitches<\/a>. This year\u2019s problems come amid a growing<\/a> backlash<\/a> against the proliferation of technology in schools, including the amount of time students spend on screens. <\/p>\n

After a gradual phase-in<\/a>, the state fully transitioned from paper-and-pencil tests to computer-based tests this spring. The grades 3-8 English language arts exams have already been administered. <\/p>\n

We’re on a need-to-know basis.<\/p>\n

Every weekday morning, Chalkbeat New York is bringing thousands of subscribers the news on public schools and education policy that they need to start their day. Sign up for our free newsletter to join them.<\/p>\n

Some principals began receiving notifications Wednesday morning from the city\u2019s Education Department about the login problems with Nextera, the state\u2019s testing platform.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are receiving a high volume of escalations about students having trouble logging into Nextera,\u201d city officials wrote in an email obtained by Chalkbeat. \u201cIt is happening statewide.\u201d The message said schools could continue testing if students had already logged in, but should cancel testing for the day if students continued to have problems. <\/p>\n

At one Brooklyn elementary school, students were unable to log in to start their exams for more than an hour but were eventually able to log in and complete the tests, according to the principal who spoke on condition of anonymity. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure there are going to be parents who feel like it\u2019s not going to be the best picture of their child\u2019s performance because of the way it happened today,\u201d the principal said. More broadly, the school leader wishes the state would keep paper and pencil tests, especially for younger students who have to \u201clearn a whole other set of skills\u201d to take them digitally. <\/p>\n

At another Brooklyn school, a teacher proctoring the exam for a group of sixth graders with disabilities said that one of the seven students was able to log on. The rest spent two hours trying before the school allowed them to take a break and play basketball in the gym. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey were frustrated but understood there was nothing we could do,\u201d said the teacher, who requested anonymity since she was not authorized to speak. \u201cThey were so patient.\u201d<\/p>\n

After their gym break, the students were able to log on and take the test, the teacher said, but she questioned the validity of the results. <\/p>\n

\u201cYour purpose is to test them, it\u2019s not to test them after two hours of testing their patience,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

How did testing go at your school? Let us know at ny.tips@chalkbeat.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Alex Zimmerman is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.<\/p>\n

Amy Zimmer is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat New York. Contact Amy atazimmer@chalkbeat.org.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sign up for Chalkbeat New York\u2019s free daily newsletter to get essential news about NYC\u2019s public schools delivered…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":214331,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[84610,66823,56378,9,24,55,54,56,2585,17072,27194,77411],"class_list":["post-214330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-computers","tag-getty-creative","tag-laptops","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-ny","tag-students","tag-test","tag-testing","tag-young-students"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214330\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/214331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}