‘Florida DOE Has Abdicated its Accountability Role to Pearson | Scathing Purple Musings

‘Florida DOE Has Abdicated its Accountability Role to Pearson | Scathing Purple Musings:

‘Florida DOE Has Abdicated its Accountability Role to Pearson

by Bob Sikes

Within a blistering critique of Gerard Robinson’s tenure as Florida’s education commissioner, Osceola school board member Jay Wheeler make an astonishing observation about the role that  testing giant Pearson plays in Florida’s education system. Writes Wheeler in Around Osceola:

Additionally the Florida Department of education has abdicated its role for accountability to a sole source for profit testing company for all public school FCAT testing to Pearson Education. As a result of the Obama Race to the Top initiative we are now heading into “common core” which is supposed to be the next step towards standardized testing. The only catch is that no one can give a definitive answer who and how the tests will be developed. Many, including myself are highly suspicious that Pearson will get this contract too.

Understand that in the 2010-11, 2009-10, and 2008-09 school years the Florida Department of