Arne D. lets Pearson, others make and grade tests secretly to publicly grade teachers. Unfair.

[madfloridian]

Someone at Twitter linked to this post of mine from Daily Kos in January 2012. It really hit me so hard that nothing has changed, not a damn thing. In fact things are worse than they were then.

Pearson is one of just a few companies who are controlling the education agenda, not just in this country, but internationally.

Scrutinize those who write and grade the tests that judge teachers, students, schools.

That is a lot of power given without much scrutiny...to those who formulate and grade the tests that judge so many. One of the biggest of these is Pearson, and they greatly affect many states.

Recently in the New York Times Michael Winerip told of some investigations being done about educators being treated to trips paid for by Pearson Foundation, one of the largest publishers of educational materials. That includes testing packages sold to schools and the grading of the tests as well.

New Questions About Trips Sponsored by Education Publisher

In the summer of 2010, Lu Young, the superintendent of schools in Jessamine County, a Lexington, Ky., suburb, took a trip to Australia paid for by the Pearson Foundation, a nonprofit arm of Pearson, the nation’s largest educational publisher.

Ten school superintendents went on the trip.

More:

Six months later, in Frankfort, Ky., Ms. Young sat on a committee interviewing executives from three companies bidding to run the state’s testing program. While CTB/McGraw-Hill submitted the lowest bid, by $2.5 million, Ms. Young and the other committee members recommended Pearson.

..."For several weeks, New York State’s attorney general has been investigating similar trips involving two dozen education officials from around the country who traveled to Singapore; London; Helsinki, Finland; China and Rio de Janeiro as guests of the Pearson Foundation. The trips, and the fact that most of these officials come from states that have multimillion contracts with Pearson, were the subject of two of my columns this fall.

Last month, the attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman, issued subpoenas to the Manhattan offices of the Pearson Foundation and Pearson Education. Mr. Schneiderman is looking into whether the nonprofit, tax-exempt foundation, which is prohibited by state law from undisclosed lobbying, was used to benefit Pearson Education, a profit-making company that publishes standardized tests, curriculums and textbooks, according to people familiar with the inquiry.

Pearson has a lot of influence in states like Texas and Florida. Here is more about Texas from the Texas Observer last September.

How private companies are profiting from Texas public schools.

Pearson, one of the giants of the for-profit industry that looms over public education, produces just about every product a student, teacher or school administrator in Texas might need. From textbooks to data management, professional development programs to testing systems, Pearson has it all—and all of it has a price. For statewide testing in Texas alone, the company holds a five-year contract worth nearly $500 million to create and administer exams. If students should fail those tests, Pearson offers a series of remedial-learning products to help them pass. Meanwhile, kids are likely to use textbooks from Pearson-owned publishing houses like Prentice Hall and Pearson Longman. Students who want to take virtual classes may well find themselves in a course subcontracted to Pearson. And if the student drops out, Pearson partners with the American Council on Education to offer the GED exam for a profit.

“Pearson basically becomes a complete service provider to the education system,” says David Anderson, an Austin education lobbyist whose clients include some of Pearson’s competitors.

With the prevalence of companies like Pearson operating in Texas and many other states, the U.S. education system has become increasingly privatized. In some cases, the only part of education that remains public is the school itself. Nearly every other aspect of educating children—exams, textbooks, online classes, even teacher certification—is now provided by for-profit companies.

Here is the webpage for their North America education interests. Just add the name Pearson in front of the publishing companies you used to know. Almost every textbook we used in the classroom came from one of these companies, but now there is the word Pearson preceding it.

Pearson North American Education

Pearson has the FCAT testing contract for Florida. That is the test that has decided most everything in Florida, though I hope some of that is changing.

From the Orlando Sentinel in December. There is concern about the investigations going on elsewhere, concern that Florida might be linked to some of it.

NY investigating Pearson, testing giant with FCAT contract

New York’s attorney general is looking into whether an educational foundation affiliated with Pearson — the national testing giant that has the FCAT contract — tried to improperly influence state educators by paying for them to take overseas trips, the New York Times reported yesterday.

The paper wrote: ”The office of the attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman, issued subpoenas this week to the foundation and to Pearson Education seeking documents and information related to their activities with state education officials, including at least four education conferences — in London, Helsinki, Singapore and Rio de Janeiro — since 2008, according to people familiar with the investigation.

At issue is whether the activities of the tax-exempt Pearson Foundation, which is prohibited by state law from engaging in undisclosed lobbying, were used to benefit Pearson Education, a for-profit company, according to these people.”

Former Florida Education Commissioner Eric Smith took a Pearson trip to Finland in 2009, though that was after the company won Florida’s contract. Pearson was one of three companies to initially apply to run Florida’s testing program but one of the applicants was deemed unqualified. A committee of state officials (Smith was not among them) and a few outside appointees (including a parent) selected Pearson over CTB/McGraw-Hill after rating the two proposals.

To sum up such a long post from 2012...Pearson was fined about 15 million in 2010 for late scores on the FCAT.

One more paragraph from the Texas Observer pretty well sums it up.

Anderson compares it to the military-industrial complex that President Dwight Eisenhower warned of. Which makes sense, since Pearsonville does have a 1950s feel.

I call it the Educational Industrial Complex.

Accountability should not just be for teachers.

Linked to Twitter

[Downwinder]

1. If students grade teachers, shouldn't teachers grade administrators?

[madfloridian]

2. Proprietary tests are like proprietary voting....you don't know what you are getting.

That's how students are tested and graded, and their scores grade teachers. I have often thought there should be a way for teachers to evaluate their administrators.

[madfloridian]

3. I have a theory...

about why education reform posts seldom get any attention here. It's not a matter if it's an issue of right or wrong. I think most people find it sad to destroy our public education system for the profit of companies who are not held accountable.

I think the reason is that party loyalty is involved. Those of us who post about the harm of such reforms are considered disloyal, even if we are not.

That makes it easier for the damage to be done.

[Luminous Animal]

4. I agree. The silence is telling.

[madfloridian]

9. Yes, it is.

[catchnrelease]

7. I always try to K&R your posts when I see them

While I'm not an educator, I do have grandkids so I try to pay attention to this topic. I have always felt that a quality education should be one of the highest priorities we have in this country, but sadly that is not the case. Not even close. It's so discouraging to think what the end result could be down the road, the possibility that a large portion of our population will be so far behind the rest of the developed world. And this prospect gets hardly any attention. Sigh.

(And I think you are performing a huge service bringing this information to our attention. Definitely NOT being disloyal! Thank you!)

[progressoid]

8. From the Democratic side, there really is no defense of what is going on. n/t

[LWolf]

10. Yes.

To be honest, it has driven me further and further away from the party, because that "loyalty" is a betrayal of public education, of educators, and of students.

It hits me in the gut; it's my daily existence. It's personal.

[Squinch]

14. I think there is also confusion about testing and the Common Core and teacher evaluations, and

the conventional wisdom that opposition to the way the Common Core is being implemented is a right wing thing.

[awoke_in_2003]

5. But what can Obama do about it?

The buck stops way over there, somewhere

[Nanjing to Seoul]

6. Nothing. He threw teachers under the bus years ago, just like his base when he refused to push for

a public option on the ACA.

I'm tired of Center-Right and tepid Centrist Democrats.

[madfloridian]

11. He can change his policy on education.

He can end his unswerving loyalty to his basketball buddy who is doing a very poor job of running the nation's schools.

He can start listening to educators instead of listening to those who want to profit from our kids.

He can stop advocating unproven theories, and stop Arne Duncan from the testing insanity.

[awoke_in_2003]

12. Oh, I know...

I should have used the word "will" instead of "can"

[Squinch]

13. Pearson made a billion dollars in 2012. They linked closely through major investors to

Teach for America and Teachers' College, and they funded the Stamford group that developed the teacher evaluation system that, in turn, depends on Pearson test scores to evaluate teachers.

It's a total scam.

[Octafish]

15. Any and all public employees need to be accountable.

Which is why the secrecy surrounding so much of what gets done in "our" name is so troubling.