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At least 1,000 Chicago Public Schools students experienced technical problems while taking the High School Admissions Test earlier this month, with some unable to finish the exams or receive accommodations.
CPS said the affected students included those with disabilities and English learners who are entitled to testing accommodations such as more time. The computer-based HSAT platform primarily had a problem providing students at some schools with more time or the ability to pause the test, according to a district spokesperson.
All CPS eighth grade students take the HSAT during the school day. There are just under 23,000 eighth graders, though it’s unclear how many were present for the exam on Oct. 8. The exam is required for entry into the city’s selective enrollment high schools and to enroll at some schools outside of students’ neighborhood boundaries. CPS also offers the test in a handful of other languages, which was administered to students who chose that option on Oct. 15 “without incident.”
The issue affected groups of students who are already underrepresented at the city’s 11 selective enrollment high schools. While English learners make up about 24% of students at all Chicago public high schools, an average of 4% of students at selective enrollment high schools are English learners and 9.5% of students at selective enrollment schools have disabilities, while citywide, students with disabilities make up 16.7% of all CPS high schoolers, district enrollment data show.
In 2023, technical problems with the HSAT caused the district to pause and reschedule the exam. CPS contracts with Riverside Assessments, an Itasca-based company, to administer the HSAT and other exams. The Chicago Board of Education approved a new three-year contract in July with Riverside for $2.3 million.
“The District continues to work in close collaboration with the testing vendor, school leaders, and families to address these issues and prevent future disruptions,” said Sylvia Barragan, a spokesperson for CPS, in a statement.
Attempts to reach Riverside were unsuccessful.
Students were offered a chance to retake the test Wednesday or keep their results from the original test.
One of those students is Liz Gres’ eighth grade son, who has ADHD and was supposed to get extra time on the test when he took it on Oct. 8, but didn’t. She said students like him had to “rush through” and yet, she wasn’t aware of the extent of the problem until a letter was sent home with him a week later.
CPS said it notified families of a testing issue on the day of the test, then offered the option of retesting to students two days later. Officials shared additional details on the retesting option the following week, which is when Gres’ son came home with the letter from CPS offering the retake option.
While retaking the test might be a good option for some kids, it’s not for her son, Gres said. The test — and the high school admissions process — spark a lot of stress and anxiety for many families.
“Mine automatically was like, ‘I’m not doing this again. I had to go through enough to take this one,’” Gres said, whose son attends a Southwest Side school.
Gres’ son will keep his score from earlier this month. She said they don’t know his score yet, which makes it difficult to decide if it’s worth retaking.
Regardless, Gres said her son is interested in science and engineering and wants to find a good high school match for that. He hopes to attend Lane Tech, one of the city’s most sought-after selective enrollment high schools.
“I’ve tried to manage expectations around that,” Gres said. “Even with no challenges it’s difficult to get into the selective enrollment schools and there’s plenty of other schools and other options.”
Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.
