Some schools run web filtering or monitoring software — Bark, GoGuardian, Securly, and similar tools — that can block parts of a web page without the school realizing it. If one of these filters doesn't recognize a domain ARK uses, students may see a blank spot where an image, a math equation, or a graphing tool should be, even though the test itself is loading normally.
This article lists every domain ARK may contact during testing, so your IT team can allowlist them ahead of test day rather than troubleshooting mid-test.
A couple of notes on reading this list:
ws-*.pusher.com covers multiple subdomains used for the live-update connection (for example ws-us2.pusher.com), so allowlist the wildcard pattern rather than a single exact host. If your filter doesn't support wildcards, allowlisting pusher.com as a parent domain typically covers it.
The last two domains only need to be allowed if your school uses those specific features. If none of your assessments use audio or the graphing calculator, you can skip them — though there's no harm in allowlisting all five up front, which is the simplest way to avoid surprises if a future assessment adds one of those features.
If a student reports a missing image, equation, or tool after these domains are allowlisted, check whether your filter logs a blocked request at the time of the issue — that will usually show the exact domain it stopped. From there:
Confirm the domain matches one of the five above (a typo or a slightly different subdomain is a common cause).
Temporarily disable the filter for one student to confirm the filter is the cause before making changes district-wide.
Contact ARK Support with the blocked domain and a screenshot if possible, so we can confirm whether it's expected traffic or something on our end.
As a temporary workaround during active testing, a school can disable its filter for the testing window. Students do not need anything reset afterward — disabling or re-enabling the filter doesn't affect saved answers or test progress.