NSA Snoops on ELA Test
April 4, 2014 (GBN News): Pearson’s vaunted security was put to the test, so to speak, when the NSA reportedly spied on NY City schoolchildren taking this week's ELA exams. While Pearson, who designed theCommon Core tests, forbids teachers and principals from revealing any details, sources told GBN News that NSA agents have compiled a huge database of questions and answers, through the use of cameras hidden in students’ number 2 pencils.
It is unclear why the NSA, after revelations that it spied on everything from foreign embassies to German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cell phone, would feel a need to spy on schoolchildren’s standardized tests. J. Fredrick Mugson, a national security consultant and recognized expert on educational espionage, feels that the agency may actually be targeting the teachers.
“Knowing that the common core tests are supposed to evaluate the teachers even more than the kids,” he told GBN News in a phone interview, “the NSA is probably just trying to evaluate which teachers may pose a national security threat.
“But the ironic thing,” he went on to say, “is that it will likely backfire. From what I hear, the ELA questions on this exam were so NYC Public School Parents: NSA Snoops on ELA Test: