In response to the public outrage over Pearson monitoring of students’ social media, PARCC released a statement describing its fairness and security policy.
Mercedes Schneider discusses it here. Read her suggestion about the best way to protect test security.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Security of WHAT? There is nothing about those tests that warrant any kind of spying of our students. Those tests are horridble and bad, not to mention no valid. Items are badly written and confuse, as well as inappropriate theoretically and pedagogically.
LikeLike
You’ll notice that the first words out of Pearson’s mouth in this statement, in regard to student tweets is “copyright infringement,” making it quite clear what their priorities are.
LikeLike
So Pearson subcontracts its “security” to a firm from Utah called “Cavern,” and the pool of persons with access to US students’ social network sites expands. Who monitors the monitors? Are the backgrounds of these snooping individuals checked out? Not much informed consent or due process here for student test takers. Shouldn’t parents be afforded advance notice that their children are caught up in this questionable process?
LikeLike
Edit: It’s “Cavern,” not “Cavern,” although cavern is a good term to describe the hiding place of all this data collected by this corporation in their pursuit of profits.
LikeLike
Sorry. Spellcheck keeps refusing: CAVEON, the correct name of the company busily ferreting out stuff for Pearson from the social media sites of kids. What a way to make money…
LikeLike
It would not be the first time incompetence, corruption, and cronyism hid behind copyrights, non-disclosure agreements, and intellectual property claims. Make all PARCC questions public after tests and let the parents, teachers, and students have the freedom of speech and ability to choose if the tests are useful and relevant. What do the test companies have to fear?
LikeLike
Books are copyrighted. Does that imply that discussioning a book you have read is an infringement of copyright laws? That means all those myriad of book clubs are like the speak easies doing prohibition. Imagine police doing a raid – “drop that book – it has a copyright!”
And if they are talking copyright – didn’t Pearson illegally use book excepts in their reading exams without the permission of the authors? What’s good for the goose is good for the gander. You can’t yell copyright out of one side of your mouth while the other is side is serendipitously stealing material for their own use.
I didn’t know I was required to stay mum after every test I ever took. How dare they say I can’t discuss what I have just partaken or witnessed. It just doesn’t seem legal to me.
What about my civil liberty rights of freedom of speech?
Finally, saying that the SAT has the same precautions doesn’t mean a thing – it’s run by the same company.
Now I don’t mean that there should be bootleg copies of the test out on the free market (although I also think Pearson should be more open about their test questions), but I don’t believe that Pearson has a legitimate gripe about open discussions which occur after their exam has been given.
LikeLike
“Now I don’t mean that there should be bootleg copies of the test out on the free market ”
You should!
LikeLike
When I opened the latest email update I received from PARCC, I just had to laugh. I’m not sure how I’ll administer the EOYs knowing that PARCC has put a survey at the end for the kids to take, too. Can they talk about that survey, or is that “copyright infringement”? As a parent and a teacher, I’d like to know what that survey is about and why is it part of the test I’m supposed to be “actively monitoring.”
LikeLike