State cracking down on testmaker Pearson after spate of issues
Starting as soon as furor swelled over a prickly “Pineapple” test question, state education officials have maintained that they are confident in Pearson, their chosen test-maker. But speaking to legislators earlier this week, Commissioner John King said Pearson would have to shape up or face consequences.
Pearson defended the controversial reading passage on the eighth-grade exam, whose moral (“Pineapples don’t wear sleeves”) became a statewide punchline this spring. But it was too easy, King said. But it was just one of several sets of errors: In a presentation summarizing the state of New York’s testing program, King said Pearson