More than 130,000 Kansas students went online last month to take shortened versions of the annual state tests Kansas administers each spring. The goal was to identify any glitches and prevent a repeat of what happened last spring, when technical troubles and cyberattacks interfered with state testing, The Topeka Capital-Journal reported.

Last spring’s tests were a pilot run of new assessments that are more technologically advanced, rely less on multiple choice format and use more bandwidth.

The Center for Educational Testing and Evaluation at the University of Kansas designs and administers the state tests for Kansas and Alaska.

Center director Marianne Perie said last month’s exercise revealed some technical problems her staff is working to resolve.

For example, not all teachers were able to print out test login information for their students, and students using Chromebooks had trouble related to automatic software updates.

The testing center hopes to hold a second trial run in January that includes Alaska, which has about one-fifth as many students as Kansas. Schools in both states likely will team up to access tests on the same day and see whether students can still log in and view and complete each question without technical problems.

Testing in the spring, unlike last year, will count for school accountability purposes such as accreditation.

The center has subcontracted with an Internet security company to prevent cyberattacks. It also has prepared backup and offline testing features.

Among the new state test’s features is a requirement for students to answer in-depth writing prompts that will require hand-scoring. The University of Kansas wants Kansas teachers to conduct the scoring, rather than farming the task out to a private company.

“I want to keep it homegrown,” Perie said. “I think it’s really important to ensure we keep our expectations in Kansas related to Kansas.”