BRIAN SANDOVAL

STATE OF NEVADA

Governor

SOUTHERN NEVADA OFFICE
9890 S. Maryland Parkway, Suite 221
Las Vegas, Nevada 89183
(702) 486-6458
Fax: (702)486-6450
http://teachers.nv.gov

DALE A.R. ERQUIAGA
Superintendent of Public Instruction

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

700 E. Fifth Street
Carson City, Nevada 89701-5096
(775) 687 - 9200 · Fax: (775) 687 – 9101
http://www.doe.nv.gov

April 21, 2015

Regents of the University of California
UCLA Smarter Balanced
GSE&IS 302
300 North Charles E. Young Drive
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1522

Re: Notification of Your Material Default in Performance of the INTERLOCAL CONTRACT
BETWEEN PUBLIC AGENCIES for the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium’s failure to provide
functioning testing products and services
Dear Regents:
As you know, Smarter Balanced (“SB”) exists under and operates as a part of the UCLA Graduate
School of Education and Information Studies. The Nevada Department of Education (“NDE”)
entered into a contract with the Regents of the University of California (“UC”) for a package of
summative assessments for grades 3-8 commonly known as criterion referenced tests (“CRTs”). UC
agreed to provide NDE with a number of products and services that would support the delivery of
the complete package of summative assessments. 1 Additionally SB agreed to provide a Vendor
Specification Package to ensure that each vendor would be able to implement, operate, and/or
deliver the Assessment System. SB further meet certain timelines and provide NDE’s chosen testing
provider Measured Progress (“MP”) with certain deliverables by certain dates to enable MP to
deliver the assessments to Nevada students. All deliverables were to have been delivered by January
2015.
In March, 2015, the Executive Director of SB recommended that Nevada delay its testing dates by
two weeks to allow sufficient time to conduct needed quality assurance testing and because the test
delivery software SB provided was not performing well enough. Despite the delay in testing dates
recommended by SB, UC has been wholly unable to perform its obligations under the contract.
1

Among the services that NDE contracted with UC for SB to perform was to provide test delivery software, a test
delivery system including an adaptive engine, technical support services for the Assessment System, project management
for the delivery of the Assessment System, Tier-1 help desk support for State Assessment Directors and Chiefs or their
designees, the maintenance of interoperability standards for items, test registration, and students results from the
Assessment System, the implementation of certification services to verify each Member State followed the processes for
administering and processing the assessments, a certification process to affirm that Members have followed SB
procedures, and expert consultations to Members regarding the assessment delivery application.

 Regents of the University of California
April 21, 2015
Page 2

Since testing began, Nevada students have experienced persistent and widespread inability to logon
to or complete the CRTs that SB was to provide under the contract. Significant portions of Nevada
students have been prevented from and are still unable to take the CRTs that UC was to provide.
This letter shall constitute official notice of UC’s material default of the contract as evidenced by in
its failure to deliver a workable assessment package that would allow Nevada Students to complete
the CRT. Receipt of this notice shall commence UC’s opportunity to cure the material default and
resolve the systemic testing difficulties that have prevented Nevada students from taking the CRT.
This letter shall also serve as notice that UC’s material breach has caused NDE damages in an as-ofyet undetermined, but increasing amount, and NDE reserves the right to pursue all legal remedies to
be made whole. Should UC be unable to cure the material default within the 30 day time period
prescribed in section 2.2(a) of the UC/NDE contract (Attachment B) and provide a fully functioning
assessment package that would allow Nevada Students to take the computer adaptive assessment
CRTs, NDE may exercise its right to terminate the contract.
Respectfully yours,

DALE A.R. ERQUIAGA
Superintendent of Public Instruction
Department of Education, State of Nevada