‘Congratulations to me. I have been offered a position as a professional scorer by Pearson.’
In recent months, White has become an activist against the Common Core PARCC test, which students in New Jersey and a number of other states are taking this spring. In an e-mail, she wrote:
“Throughout my years of teaching, I administered standardized tests. I believe tests can be important tools for assessing student performance. I am not anti-testing but I am anti PARCC.”
White co-created a Facebook group for parents to help them educate each other about the PARCC exam and discuss the future of public education in their township. Hundreds of parents have joined the forum, expressing concern about student stress and anxiety surrounding the PARCC test and extensive test prep, lost instructional time, the use of student test scores on PARCC to evaluate teachers, and the loss of local control over their public schools.
White wanted to find out about the company that created the PARCC exam — Pearson, the world’s largest education company. She decided to apply for a position as a professional scorer for the 2015 PARCC Spring Operational Grade 4 English Language Arts test. This post is her report on her hiring experience. Following that is a comment I requested from Pearson, and then the letter she received from Pearson offering her the job.
By Jennifer White
Congratulations to me. I have been offered a position as a professional scorer by Pearson for the 2015 PARCC spring Operational Grade 4 English Language Arts exams.
Pearson PLC, the company that has its hands in our children’s education, is a multinational for-profit education and publishing company, headquartered in London, and traded on the London and New York Stock Exchanges. Pearson Education, part of Pearson PLC, is the largest educational assessment provider in the United States, according to its website. New Jersey awarded NCS Pearson, a subsidiary of Pearson Education, a multi-year $108 million contract to create and administer the Common Core test PARCC (though there are different pricing options that could mean the state pays less).
You might wonder how I came upon this wonderful opportunity. I was curious about who would be scoring the exams said to be able to tell if my children are college- and career-ready, so I filled in an on-line application for a Pearson’s scorer’s job. (If you too are interested in a position, Pearson advertises on Craigslist and Facebook, as I learned when these were two of the options listed on my application as to how I heard about the job opening.)
Pearson’s offer of employment came to me even though I never actually spoke to anybody at the company. The offer is conditional upon verification of my college degree, completed project training and signature on a confidentiality waiver. The company, valued at well over $10 billion, did not verify my information before its offer of employment, and seems interested only in verifying my college degree.
If I accept, I will be able to earn $10.10 an hour for training. When actually grading tests, I would be required to work a minimum 20 hours a week and would earn $12 an hour with the possibility of additional earned incentives for consistent productivity. Therefore, if I were to be very speedy at scoring your children’s tests (which could impact their school placement, future education, and their teachers’ jobs), I would have the potential to earn ‘Congratulations to me. I have been offered a position as a professional scorer by Pearson.’ - The Washington Post: