Testing company faces fines in California for second year
After it was fined $3.1 million last year for not fulfilling its contract, the company that administers the state’s standardized tests is again facing penalties for failing to meet all requirements of its contract with the state.
However, the fine is expected to be much smaller than last year. The State Board of Education expects to vote Wednesday on whether to withhold nearly $272,000, or 3 percent, from more than $8.6 million still owed to the Educational Testing Service, or ETS. That proposed penalty is based on a recommendation from the California Department of Education and represents about 0.3 percent of the total contract.
A staff report prepared for this week’s state board meeting says ETS should be fined for “not satisfactorily providing accurate and complete reports of test results” to educational agencies and “not satisfactorily meeting all reporting requirements.”’
The state has a contract with ETS that included $86.4 million for the 2015-16 school year. Last spring, schools administered the Smarter Balanced tests in English and math to about 3.2 million students in grades 3-8 and 11.
Last year, the board withheld $3.1 million, or about 4 percent, of its $83 million contract with ETS for failure to meet contract requirements related to processing, scoring, analysis and reporting of test results for the 2014-15 school year.
Michael Kirst, president of the State Board of Education, said last week that he had not yet been briefed on the reasons for the recommended penalties. However, he praised ETS for its overall work on all state tests.
“Our assessments have proceeded with almost 4 million children with only minor glitches, so their overall performance has been, I think strong – especially compared to other states – where they’ve had major problems and the whole systems have blown up,” Kirst said. “So, I think we need to look at the overall picture.”
Jim Popham, a UCLA emeritus professor and a member of the National Assessment Governing Board, said the fine was minimal and not unusual.
“I think if anything it shows diligence on the part of the state Department of Testing company faces fines in California for second year | EdSource:
