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N.Y. Education Department Moves to End Use of Some Tests by Pearson
3 days 13 hours 1 minute ago - DJNF
By Leslie Brody
After years of complaints about confusing questions and scoring errors on some tests, New York education officials announced plans Thursday to drop Pearson PLC as the vendor of state exams for grades three to eight.

The state Education Department said it intends to award a roughly $44 million, five-year contract to Questar Assessment Inc., to devise new annual exams for language arts and math in those grades.

The switch follows an unprecedented surge of parents who chose to have their children skip the federally mandated tests last spring, saying they ate up too much class time and were often too complex. Critics of Pearson ridiculed some of its questions, such as a famous 2012 passage about a talking pineapple.

Laura Howe, a spokeswoman for the London-based company, said Pearson was disappointed it didn't get a new contract but that it had an "unwavering" commitment to the state.

"We will continue to serve the people of New York through our other assessment work along with learning materials and higher-education services," she said.

Pearson had contracts for New York exams for language arts and math totaling $38.8 million, ending next June, according to the state comptroller's website.

Questar is based in Minneapolis. Jeanne Beattie, an Education Department spokeswoman, said it beat three other bidders for the contract, which requires it to develop computer-based versions of the test for districts that want them.

"Our students deserve the best, most accurate assessments we can give them," Board of Regents Chancellor Merryl H. Tisch said in a statement.

Assessments from the new vendor will start in the coming school year, but questions created by Pearson won't disappear: Ms. Beattie said they were the state's property and could still be used.

While New York teachers were involved in developing test questions under the Pearson contract, the Education Department said the new deal will add steps for local educators to have input. It wasn't clear how teachers would have more say.

The department didn't make the new contract public, saying it must still be approved by the attorney general and comptroller.

Even so, New York State United Teachers President Karen Magee expressed optimism that teachers will have more influence than in the past.

"The practitioner's voice has been respected, and we're starting to shift the conversation to where it should be, with experts in the field weighing in," Ms. Magee said.

The change in vendors also drew applause from High Achievement New York, an advocacy group that promotes the Common Core, a set of rigorous academic standards adopted by most states. The tests are supposed to reflect what students learn through these guidelines.

"This vendor doesn't have the lightning rod attached to it," said the group's executive director, Stephen Sigmund. "We're hopeful that opt-outs will be reduced...and people generally will become more comfortable with assessments."

At least one promoter of boycotting tests said dropping Pearson wouldn't tamp down the opt-out movement. Lisa Rudley, a founding member of New York State Allies for Public Education, said she was glad to see Pearson go and hoped the new vendor would be more transparent. But she said state testing will still drain money, waste time and narrow the curriculum.

"As long as tests are tied to teacher and principal evaluations, it will still impact what happens in the classroom," Ms. Rudley said. Her group estimates at least 200,000 students sat out testing in the spring, though state officials haven't released data to confirm that number.

A spokesman for Questar didn't respond to a request for comment.

Write to Leslie Brody at [e-mail]

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 09, 2015 21:57 ET (01:57 GMT)

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