The Common Core-aligned assessments that students in grades 3-8 will take this spring will be administered on paper rather than computers as originally planned, state officials said Friday.

State Education Superintendent John White said the decision was based on feedback from teachers and school system officials. Some districts didn’t have the technology to administer the computerized tests, and many raised concerns about students being distracted with a new way of testing, he said.

“It’s clear … that they need time to focus their energies on the academics content and not on technology and logistic concerns,” White said. “My feeling is that it is more important that we get the academic piece right in this first year and deal with that operational issue from a technology perspective later.”

He said 984 out of 1,335 schools throughout Louisiana meet the state’s technology requirements. White said he projects having technology-based tests in 2016 and is confident that all school systems will be ready by then.

White also announced dates for the assessments, which roughly 300,000 Louisiana students will take. Phase 1 will be March 16-20; phase 2 will be May 4-8. He said students will take one unit per day.

Results from the assessment, he said, will be announced in the fall of 2015 and will compare students in Louisiana to those in other states. The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers consortium will give the assessment. Louisiana signed an agreement with PARCC in 2010.

Gov. Bobby Jindal announced in June that he wanted to pull Louisiana out of Common Core and its associated assessments. He sent a letter to PARCC withdrawing the state from the consortium and issued executive orders to suspend the state’s testing contracts.

In August, a judge issued an injunction to lift the suspension of the contracts needed to test students on Common Core.(MGNonline)