$14 million later, Iowa schools drop troublesome testing software

The Iowa Department of Education will terminate its contract with a testing software vendor after a technical audit found the system was "unfit" and came with "a very high risk of continuous failures." 

The TIER testing platform sparked frustration among teachers administering high-stakes reading exams to elementary students in the fall, prompting the state to hire a third party to investigate. 

The 91-page technical audit requested by The Des Moines Register discovered a "dense and disjointed" system that "will experience failures of various levels and across multiple components in the future."

"At this time we are choosing to terminate the contract," Department of Education spokeswoman Staci Hupp said. "We're concerned about a number of things, including the data system's ability to perform in the future." 

Since 2013, Iowa has paid more than $14 million to TIES, the nonprofit tech group that created the platform. The Register reported in December that Iowa disputed more than $1.6 million in charges from the group. The state disputed another $524,100 bill in March.

When asked if the department would seek its money back, Hupp said, "We can't comment right now on potential legal options."

State officials will terminate the TIER contract June 30. The decision is not expected to affect testing next school year. The state will contract with another vendor, although officials warn there could be some technical challenges until a long-term solution is found.

TIES attorney Susan Mussell disputed the audit's findings, saying that the system has supported Iowa teachers and students well.

"We disagree with many of the findings, which we view as subjective opinions," she said.

Mussell pointed to the January and May testing windows, in which the highest number of students were tested using the system. It was during those periods that the vendor received the lowest number of requests for support.

"We are proud of the quality and performance of our TIER software," she said. TIES is owned by Minnesota school districts.

The software was designed for schools to give reading tests to students across Iowa. It provided a way for schools to store and track student data over time. The software was not the test itself but the platform used.

The $224,353 technical audit by World Wide Technology was conducted from December through March. It was redacted before being shared with the Register.

It found that some of the software's web pages were slow to load, and there was no obvious way to search for a specific student, a design issue that created "poor workflow."

In addition, the interface was designed for desktop computers, and the audit found issues would occur if used on a tablet or touch-screen computer.

The audit could not access all the information it sought from TIES to test the system's performance. "This lack of freedom had a negative impact on the extent of our review," it says.

It did unearth "three security vulnerabilities," which were immediately reported to the Department of Education and to TIES.

While the nonprofit "generally responded in an adequate manner" to security concerns, the audit says the department "should consider engaging a third party to perform a more thorough security audit."

Hupp said there "is no evidence that there's any (student) data that has been breached, and as we look at moving the data we will do everything that we can to make sure the data is secure."

In addition, the audit found a "fundamental misunderstanding" in the relationship between the Department of Education and software vendor. The department believed it hired TIES to create the software, but TIES believed it owned the software and would license it to the state.

"When the contract began, the relationship was appropriate and the roles were clear to everyone involved that we were the client and that TIES was the contractor," Hupp said. "My understanding is that the shift occurred over time with turnover and management at TIES."

However, the audit said that the department "needs to have a significantly more active role in planning at a more granular level."

Next school year, as a stop-gap measure, the department plans to contract with testing vendor FASTBridge.

Iowa teachers reported issues in September with the TIES software system, from not being able to access it to it crashing in the middle of tests. The platform interacts with tests used to screen young students to see if they're on track in reading.

The platform failures forced the state to extend the testing window and recommend schools limit testing to only students legally required to be screened.

Education Director Ryan Wise said in September that the nonprofit was “working around the clock” to get issues resolved. However, emails previously obtained by the Register showed mounting tension between TIES and the department. 

"We didn't have an indication that the system would collapse, and as soon as it did we were proactive in the response," Hupp said. 

The St. Paul-based nonprofit has faced scrutiny before, including in 2014 when a financial audit found TIES mismanaged millions of dollars and was losing money, running a deficit of $2.78 million through June of that year. TIES leaders have said issues were resolved with better oversight.