Dive Summary:

• Problems with slow and dropped connections last week led the Kentucky Department of Education to return to paper and pencil for end-of-course tests.
• The Kentucky Department of Education announced in an e-mail Saturday that it would issue the tests--which are mandatory for high school students taking English II, algebra II, biology and U.S. history--to all students who haven't taken them yet via paper and pencil following test provider ACT Inc.'s Friday afternoon decision to suspend the online system today "due to technical issues."
• Students in Ohio and Alabama also had issues with the online tests, which are part of the new common core standards, and ACT plans to add more capacity to its Vantage testing system before it reopens the online platform.

From the article:

... "ACT is attempting to re-open the online system as soon as possible; however, (the education department) believes stabilization of the end of course assessment program is now the priority," according to the email from Rhonda Sims, director of the education department's Division of Support and Research.

Schools that had planned to use online testing will instead receive shipments of paper test books in their district offices by May 13, the email said. ...