PARCC exams: Following the money behind N.J.'s costliest test
Question: How much will New Jersey taxpayers spend to implement the new PARCC standardized tests in the state's public schools?
(A) $25 per student
(B) $22 million
(C) $108 million
(D) No one knows
(B) $22 million
(C) $108 million
(D) No one knows
The answer, according to state officials, is all of the above. New Jersey is spending about $25.50 per student, or about $22 million on the new exam this year. Within four years, the price tag could go as high as $108 million.
But, as New Jersey school children sit this month for the new exams, there are still big questions about how much the controversial tests will eventually cost.
The debut of PARCC - short for the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers - ushers in a new era for New Jersey's public schools. For the first time, the state is using computers to test all students in grades 3 through 11 with an exam that is also being used by nearly a dozen other states.
PARCC has also ushered in a new level of vitriol in the state's schools. Some parents are waging war on standardized testing by refusing to let their kids take the exams with the open support of the state's largest teachers union.
RELATED: PARCC exams: How Pearson landed the deal to produce N.J.'s biggest test
Behind all of the strife is an unprecedented and unusual deal with Pearson Education, a for-profit testing company that landed the contract to provide the exams in New Jersey without a traditional competitive bidding process.
NJ Advance Media examined thousands of pages of contracts, pricing agreements and legal documents to track how taxpayer funds are being spent on PARCC. The documents show a complex deal with more than 60 price variables that make it almost impossible to determine how much New Jersey will eventually spend on PARCC testing over the next few years.
New Jersey education officials say they got a good deal. Their early estimates indicate the PARCC tests will cost $25.50 per student this year, about $3 less than previous standardized tests used in New Jersey.
However, the overall bill will be about $3 million higher than last year because more New Jersey students are required to take the PARCC compared to previous exams.
"This is a higher quality assessment and we'll get much deeper information out of it, I think that for me is a huge selling point," said David Hespe, New Jersey's education commissioner. "We're basically getting a better assessment at just about the same amount of money we're spending per pupil as we are now. I think that really is a value."
Critics question whether New Jersey is spending too much time and money on standardized testing. They also question whether New Jersey's agreement with Pearson, the world's largest testing company, is in the best interest of the state's taxpayers and school children.
"I don't want to paint a picture of a sinister corporate giant out there. They are looking after their interests," said Daniel Katz, director of secondary and secondary-special education at Seton Hall University. "I am concerned that PARCC did not go through sufficient bidding before they landed that contract."
PARCC did not respond to questions about the bidding process.
Pearson declined to comment for the story.
The New Mexico deal
Standardized tests are nothing new in New Jersey, which began using annual statewide exams in the 1970s to gauge what students were learning.
Over the last few years, New Jersey has been using the NJ ASK and HSPA tests to measure students. Measurement Inc., a North Carolina testing company, has the PARCC exams: Following the money behind N.J.'s costliest test | NJ.com: