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Top Stories: STAAR Testing Resumes, Despite Glitches; Emotional Eating In Kids

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The top local stories this morning from KERA News: As standardized testing continues Wednesday across the state, officials say technical issues experienced Tuesday should be resolved.

Teachers told the Dallas Morning News that some students were temporarily kicked out of the testing software while taking their STAAR exams.

Texas Education Agency spokesperson DeEtta Culbertson said more than 100,000 students were taking the test at the time, but it’s not clear how many were affected. Culbertson also said the server problem has been addressed and corrected.

This isn't the first time technical issues plagued the STAAR exams. In 2016, computer problems statewide affected more than 14,000 tests. Education Commissioner Mike Morath ultimately scrapped the results for fifth- and eighth-graders when other issues persisted, such as delivery problems, scoring errors and even test questions with no correct answers.

Other stories this morning:

  • Gov. Greg Abbott has called an investigation into the way the Texas Health & Human Services Commission awards contracts after issues with a scoring tool awarded the wrong contracts for the Children’s Health Insurance Program.
  • A new study from UT Dallas examined the reasons behind "emotional eating," with a focus on kids and how dietary habits develop in early childhood.

You can listen to North Texas stories weekdays at 8:22 a.m. and 6:20 p.m. on KERA 90.1 FM.

Former KERA staffer Krystina Martinez was an assistant producer. She produced local content for Morning Edition and KERANews.org. She also produced The Friday Conversation, a weekly series of conversations with North Texas newsmakers. Krystina was also the backup newscaster for the Texas Standard.