money for high stakes test- bad buy?

[emeraldkity4]

<p><a href=“http://seattle.bizjournals.com/seattle/stories/2006/03/27/editorial3.html[/url]”>http://seattle.bizjournals.com/seattle/stories/2006/03/27/editorial3.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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Published data from the state’s (WASL) contracts show that the initial amount awarded to Riverside Publishing Co., covering the period of Sept. 24, 2001, to Oct. 10, 2005, was $61.6 million for test development, administration and scoring.</p>

<p>A second contract for the WASL was awarded on April 15, 2004, to Oct. 31, 2008, to Pearson Educational Measurement for $70.8 million for the same services. That makes a total of $132.4 million, just for the tests.</p>

<p>Not one dime of that figure goes for instructional services. There are no indirect charges in that figure. The initial contract to Riverside Publishing for trial runs was approximately $40 million. Thus, the true cost is probably about $172.4 million.</p>

<p>Ring up $34.7 million from the 2006 Supplemental Budget for WASL remediation. Then add $277,010 for the June 2001 WASL training trip to Mesa, Ariz., for 190 teachers. The total exceeds $207 million (not exactly petty cash).

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<p>Isn’t Pearson educational measurement same company that scored the College board tests?</p>

[xiggi]

<p>Sure is! All your dollars flow to this small outfit:</p>

<p>

Publishing under imprints such as Addison-Wesley, Allyn & Bacon, FT Prentice Hall, Longman and Prentice Hall, Pearson Education is the world’s leading educational publisher. </p>

<p>Pearson Education is part of the global media and education group Pearson, and a sister company of Penguin and the Financial Times newspaper. Every day our books and learning tools help people around the world to grow their knowledge, develop their skills and realise their potential.

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<p>I heard that Dubai Education is planning a takeover. From ports to pork. :)</p>