Court: NC public schools will use Istation reading assessment tool until hearing
North Carolina public schools will continue using the Istation reading assessment tool — at the center of a long-running contract dispute — until a full Superior Court hearing, according to Public Schools of North Carolina.
A Wake County Superior Court judge found Monday that the Department of Public Instruction (DPI), students and teachers would be “irreparably harmed” if stay orders preventing the use of the reading assessment tool remained in place, the department said in a news release.
The judge issued a temporary restraining order Monday, the latest action in a debate about what program should be used to assess the state’s students through the Read to Achieve Program.
“The court’s order is good news and will prevent the disruption of the work and progress North Carolina reading teachers have already made this school year,” State Superintendent Mark Johnson said in a news release.
The judge’s order lifts a stay order entered by the North Carolina Department of Information Technology in August that blocked Istation’s $8.3 million three-year contract. Teachers will continue to use Istation until the full superior court hearing, scheduled for Jan. 6.
“Istation was legally and appropriately awarded the assessment contract by DPI in June, and today’s ruling is a significant step in upholding the contract,” Ossa Fisher, Istation President said in a statement to The N&O.
The Read to Achieve program, which began in 2013, focuses on providing students with additional resources to ensure that they are reading at grade level by the third grade, The N&O previously reported. Amplify Education’s mClass program has been used to test students’ reading abilities since the program’s inception.
However, Johnson decided to award the new reading testing contract to Istation, a computer testing program, instead of Amplify.
In doing so, Johnson overrode an evaluation committee he formed, which ranked Amplify’s program higher than Istation, according to public records.
Johnson said the committee used “biased procedures” and violated confidentiality of the process. He then formed a new committee that recommended Istation, The N&O previously reported.
The decision was criticized by many teachers, who said students were used to the Amplify testing program. But DPI said the Istation testing program will cost less — $2.8 million a year compared to Amplify’s program, which was paid $6.3 million a year, DPI spokeswoman Jaqueline Wyatt said.
Amplify CEO Larry Berger said he hopes for a prompt decision. “We look forward to a swift decision so that there is clarity for families, students and teachers early in the new year,” he said in an emailed statement.
This story was originally published December 23, 2019 at 7:49 PM with the headline "Court: NC public schools will use Istation reading assessment tool until hearing."