What Has School Testing Turned Into?

School testing has turned into a major business. The article, “A Very Pricey Pineapple”, by Gail Collins reports that New York has a contract with Pearson for five years and 32 million dollars to produce standardized tests. In comparison the state of Texas has a similar contract for nearly half-a-billion-dollars. No Child Left Behind has lead to hefty profits for the private sector. Pearson is dominating the world’s for-profit educating business and has recently partnered with the American Council on Education to redevelop the G.E.D. The G.E.D. is a test used almost nationally, and Pearson now has the rights to revise it. Tew York Education Commissioner tells Collins, “We’re a capitalist system, but this is worrisome.” Pearson is in position to create a monopoly; a monopoly that will affect the government instead of the citizens. Pearson is in a situation where they can run the price up on the government. The Obama administration has been trying to slow the rising costs of 50 different standardized tests by trying to share models, and many conservatives don’t think a federal takeover by the schools is appropriate. The tests are only one side of the equation, a system of public-funded charter schools has also been created – some of which are run by for-profit companies. Some of these charter schools are even completely online, which sometime can end catastrophically for the students. I think Collins puts it perfectly when she writes, “An American child could go to a public school run by Pearson, studying from books produced by Pearson, while his or her progress is evaluated by Pearson standardized tests. The only public participant in the show would be the taxpayer.” No Child Left Behind has created some unintentional ramifications which could change education forever.