It's pretty rough to keep waiting on the test grades after all the pressure of taking them. School will be out, and districts waiting to plan the number of teachers for next year.
There is pressure on everyone..the teachers, the administrators, and the tension on the students must be terrible.
Company responsible for delay in FCAT scores has history of problemsThe testing company responsible for the delayed release of this year's FCAT scores has a history of problems — in Florida and across the country. Now, Florida education leaders fear their planned rollout of a new computer-based testing system is in jeopardy because the company, Pearson, is not prepared.
Education Commissioner Eric Smith criticized Pearson in a recent letter for using an "untested" system for computer-based tests that the state plans to use in high schools next year.
The lack of a "proven" system created "unacceptable" problems for schools that tried out the new tests this spring, Smith said.
"The problems experienced by schools have created a lack of confidence in Pearson, our program, and computer-based testing in general. The product seems to be so new and untested that even Pearson staff cannot provide clear and reliable instructions for successful implementation," Smith wrote in his June 4 letter.
Other states that had problems.
In the last decade, the Iowa City-based firm had trouble in Wyoming, Minnesota and Virginia, among other states, in getting out results when promised, scoring exams accurately and delivering usable tests. Pearson was the company responsible for the 2005 mishap with the SAT, when thousands of college-bound students got mistakenly low scores. In 2000, it also was late returning FCAT scores and was slapped it with a $4 million fine.
And also Wyoming.
This spring, the Wyoming Department of Education also ran into problems with its computer-based tests developed by Pearson. They were so severe the state declared the entire assessment program "seriously compromised" and said it would seek more than $9 million in damages.
Nine million in damages?
Yet the company still gets to do business. The demand for accountability for teachers does not seem to carry over to the private sector.
This is THE TEST in Florida. A student's future basically depends on it. Looks like there could be accountability in grading. It should be an open process in which parents don't have to get legal counsel if there are questionable outcomes for their students.
Too much depends on this one test.
I wonder if a
Maryland County will regret selling its esteemed education program to Pearson for short term gains.
Some may call Project North Star a pretty smart deal. I would use less flattering words to describe the deal into which Montgomery County Public Schools just entered with the world’s largest for-profit educational publishing company to nationally “brand” a newly created K-5 curriculum.
Under the arrangement, the school district will effectively turn its classrooms into Pearson Education Inc. showrooms, and sell to a private company the right to trade on the system’s high-achieving reputation, built over years with public funds, to enrich itself.
Other than that, there’s nothing wrong with the contract.
Oh, wait. Yes, there is.
Accountability is apparently necessary only for those at the teacher level.