Missouri Education Watchdog: Parent Refuses Permission for Child to take Part in Field Testing for Pearson
Missouri Education Watchdog: Parent Refuses Permission for Child to take Part in Field Testing for Pearson:
by stlgretchen
Another brave parent stands up to the standardized test industry. From buffalo news. com and ‘Field tests’ raise concerns that school tests are now a corporate product:
A new packet of shrink-wrapped state tests will arrive at hundreds of elementary and middle schools across the region this week.
But these 40-minute tests given in early June won’t count for students or teachers. They’ll test whether a private contractor, Pearson Education, hit the mark when it developed multiple-choice questions for state exams.
It’s exactly the kind of class time parents such as Daniel Kasprzak think could be better spent.
...Pearson is a giant in the education and publishing fields. It publishes the Financial Times and prints books through the Penguin Group. Its education arm, Pearson Education, writes textbooks, sells school curriculum and designs tests taken by millions of children across the country. During the last decade, it has become one of the largest education companies in the world.
“Its primary agenda is deriving profits for shareholders,” said Robert Schaeffer, public education
