Jeffrey Weiss, education writer for the Dallas Morning News, wondered how much Texas has spent on standardized testing since 1980, when the state began its statewide testing program.
He made inquiries at the Texas Education Agency, but no one could help him. He was told that they keep records only for four years. He knew that the current Pearson contract came to $438 million for five years, about $85 million a year.
Weiss writes:
Apparently this refusal to maintain even the totals, at least officially, is a longstanding policy. I found a piece about the economics of testing from 2002 that had this note: “And on and on. Texas state spending on testing has risen from $19.5 million in fiscal year 1995 to $68.6 million in fiscal year 2001. (Surprisingly, Texas Education Agency officials were unable to provide figures prior to 1995.)”
Very interesting. The cost of statewide testing has gone up from $19.5 million a year to $85 million a year.
Someone should do a cost-benefit analysis. And a study of the lobbying that has produced that enormous increase in costs.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Testing is out of control. It is Ferderal and State funded child abuse.
My school just spent an entire week giving mock state tests and 6 weeks tests. Next week will be spent going over those tests. 10 days down the tubes.
May I call you, My Hero?
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Don’t stop there…calculations of student population over which the dollars were distributed might help, for instance?
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I believe William Mathis, then a supe in VT, did a cost-benefit analysis on NCLB requirements vs skipping Federal dollars. I’m not finding it the link or the study in my piles of bookmarks/papers, but I’m pretty sure he found that the cost of meeting NCLB requirements exceeded the Fed dollars coming in. I can’t remember if it was at the state level, or just for his district, but it was interesting just the same. We’d be so much better off if more legislators and administrators would just stop and do that more often – and for the right things.
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Rather shocking that in the state where it all began there is zero financial accountability to the public. Again and again, “accountability” policies and procedures are accountable to no one. I knew that, but that the financial data are actually buried and perhaps irretrievable still astounds.
Of course, even if we had totals for all the testing contracts, that’s the tip of the iceberg. The true costs of the testing mania have to include, for example, the money for lost instructional time. Teachers’ time is not free, and every penny spent paying them to do test prep and test administration and test grading is instructional time the taxpayers paid for and was never delivered to children.
Has anyone attempted a real financial analysis for even one year of state testing anywhere? Attempting to account for all real costs involved, above and beyond the contracts with Pearson et al?
It’s about time for such an accounting on a national scale.
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To answer the question of the post: Way too much! Too much money thrown down the toilet at the HIGH Church of Testology.
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I have done an analysis of the costs born by Texas for the standardized exams, and they far exceed what is shown here. We spend between 6-13 BILLION per year. That includes estimates for teacher salaries during the test, M&O, test materials, etc. We get less than that from the federal government.
I told my representative that the other day and he balked. Granted, he is an understudy for the current Texas chair of ALEC, so it didn’t surprise me.
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Dysfunctional systems like that which governs our great state of Texas use denial and avoidance as a means of maintaining their illusion and pretense and avoiding the truth. They also abuse their power via “kill the messenger” and “punish the victim” as a means of threatening or scapegoating those who would point out their corruption. The Dark Triad of personality (Narcissism, Machevillianism, & Sociopathy) is the hallmark of our Texas legislators and their wealthy owners. Jeff, how is it that you have not been silenced yet like most Texas journalists, especially those at the Austin American Statesman?
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I can’t speak for other publications, but there’s not been a scintilla of pressure on me at to what I should or should not be writing. I identify my wild geese and off I run…1:-{)>
Oh and as for broader costs of testing. That can be calculated lots of ways. I was looking for what I thought was a pretty simple number: What was the cost for the testing contract?
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