UPDATE: Education Commissioner Pam Stewart has sent a letter to Pearson saying she expects “a resolution and explanation for this immediately.” “This failure is inexcusable,” Stewart wrote. “Florida’s students and teachers work too hard on learning to be distracted by these needless and avoidable technological issues.” Read Stewart’s letter below. Original post: Schools are suspending […]
A Florida Department of Education panel is recommending the American Institutes for Research produce Florida’s next statewide test. The non-profit American Institutes for Research should produce Florida’s next statewide exam a Florida Department of Education procurement panel said Tuesday, the Times/Herald Tallahassee bureau reports. The final recommendation is up to Education Commissioner Pam Stewart. She […]
Some educators have always been skeptical of standardized testing. But in Florida, educators got another reason to question the accuracy of our test after the Florida Board of Education lowered the passing score of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test writing exam so more students would pass it. A former employee with Pearson, the company that […]
Teachers-in-training at the University of Massachusetts are leading a protest against a pilot national teacher evaluation program being developed by testing giant Pearson and Stanford University, the New York Times reports. The students and their instructor are worried that turning over two 10-minute videos and a 40-page test to a faceless evaluator will not produce […]
New York education officials are throwing out a question on a state standardized test — the fourth time in a month the state has had to do so, according to the New York Times‘ Schoolbook blog. This time it’s a math question above above the heads of fifth graders that’s causing the problem. To solve […]
The New York education department took the unusual step of releasing a state reading test section last week after Internet buzz about the confusing passage and questions built to a roar. The passage was called the “Hare and the Pineapple,” and was authored by children’s author Daniel Pinkwater. Typically test questions are not released to […]
Some St. Johns County students had trouble logging in to take the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test online, according to the St. Augustine Record. Florida is expanding the use of computer-based testing. The problems were with test contractor Pearson, school officials said. Pearson is being paid $254 million over four years to administer the FCAT. But […]
Our friends at StateImpact Ohio have an interesting look at how Ohio comes up with the wording on its standardized tests. By committee, of course. A controversy over a question about the Arab perception of the creation of Israel prompted concerns that the questions might not be without bias. In Florida, though, the test contractor […]
Reader feedback is an important part of building StateImpact Florida’s education coverage. Feedback Loop will be a regular feature highlighting your questions, criticisms and comments. Here’s what you said about our reporting this week. Reader Catherine saw our blog post about testing giant Pearson’s tendrils throughout the growing education business. Catherine questioned the relationship: I […]
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