Jamie Dangler of United University Professions informed me that her association had filed a Freedom of Information Act request for Pearson’s contract to assess incoming teachers. The initial response was a copy of a contract that was 75% redacted. They tried again and most of the redactions were gone. They were shocked to learn that the state pays Pearson nothing to develop or administer the exams; Pearson profits when students fail and take the exam repeatedly.
She writes:
“We received a nearly clean copy of the New York State Education Department’s teacher certification exam contract with Pearson, Inc.
“It wasn’t easy to get. We filed a FOIL request that initially produced a copy of the contract that was nearly 75 percent blacked out. We appealed and then began to pursue legal action. We finally got a copy with less than 3 pages blacked out.
“Here’s a major problem we are concerned about and legislation we’re proposing to address it.
“The Pearson contract reveals that New York State did not pay Pearson to develop and administer its teacher certification exams. Instead, all of Pearson’s payment and profits are made from student exam fees. This means Pearson has little incentive to fix flawed exams, since they profit when students take and retake their exams. We have four new teacher certification requirements in New York State administered by Pearson. One of them is the edTPA and the others are exams. There are many content and computer format problems with the exams and lots of problems with the edTPA. Students can spend up to $1,000 or more to take and retake these exams.
“As part of our 2016 NYS legislative initiatives, UUP is calling for a change in the state’s procurement law that would stop Pearson and other for-profit testing companies from making a profit off of teacher candidates by charging—and recharging—them fees to take mandatory exams.
“Here’s a link to a story about this on our website: http://uupinfo.org/communications/uupdate/1516/160126.php
“Here’s a link to the Pearson contract: http://uupinfo.org/committees/pdf/teached/NCSPearsonContractDec2015.pdf
Jamie Dangler, PhD
Vice President for Academics
Teacher Education Task Force chair
United University Professions
Diane Ravitch's blog 
The way things are set up now, SED can contract with Pearson to set up certification exams for teacher candidates without spending a dime. Pearson makes their money by charging students to take – and retake – tests. This system provides Pearson very little incentive to revise their tests, which are deeply flawed. Students are paying hundreds of dollars in testing fees and the exams are a mess. SED, and not a for-profit company, needs to set and control the collection of testing fees. Thanks!
Read, reporter George Joseph’s , June 13, 2013, Inside These Times – “(Columbia) Teachers College Students Urge President to Cut Ties With Pearson”, if you can stomach it.
I hold several certifications from New York. In addition to paying to have transcripts sent from universities where I completed course work, I paid a $25 fee to New York State to obtain certification. While times have changed, there is no reason to have to pay such outrageous fees to a private corporation that has the right to manipulate who meets certification requirements while they rake in cash.
We have four new teacher certification requirements in New York State administered by Pearson.
Why four? If the exams have names that transcend state lines, like edPTA, then this contracting information might be of use well beyond New York State. It is also potentially important because more than one state is likely to be adding more tests for certification, following the lead of USDE’s attempt to control the teacher workforce and markets for “teacher talent.”
It could also be happening with the School Building and School District Leader exams. I know several people who had never failed a standardized test in their lives, fail those tests and were forced to pay $200 to retake the exam over and over.
What a scam…
Already in possession of my 1 – 6 certification, took classes to obtain my B – 2 certification in New York State. I had some job offers for Pre-K. I had to take the CST AGAIN, because that’s the rule! I paid $175 to Pearson; the test was ridiculous, and the Math portion was completely different from the practice test, which had formulas and an online calculator. The actual test had neither. The proctor lent me her calculator (!), although the very hard math didn’t require it. I was told by NY State Department of Education not to worry if I failed, I could use my OLD CST under their “safety net” rule!! I asked them why I needed to take it again — answer — because that was Pearson’s rule. My brilliant friend, who is applying for Assistant Principal certification, failed her test! She has two Masters degrees and never failed a test in her life. There should be a class action suit against Pearson and the NY State Department of Education. It’s six months, and I still don’t have my certification! I think they are moving very slowly, because they don’t want to certify Pre-K teachers in New York City. On top of everything else, there were absolutely no arts questions on the tests. There was one question about Caribbean music which cynically filled in the “arts” and “diversity” slots. A cynical and disgusting test.
The SBL (school building leader) test was the most disgusting test ever. I was a straight A student all my life, passing any standardized test with flying colors.Failed the SBL…twice..by just a few points both times. Passed on third try.
I contacted Pearson to request my test results in detail to find out who and how it was scored. Said they don’t provide that.
Smelled a rat even then.
Privatization strikes again in a more insidious way. I can just see Pearson telling the state it would be much more efficient if they did all the fee collection and the state could save money. No cost for the tests and no bureaucracy to collect fees from teachers. All that messy financial stuff would be handled by your ever helpful buddies at Pearson.
So how would you change the structure? Should students be able to take the tests an infinite number of times based on the state’s nickel?
Should the state limit the number of times a teaching candidate can take the exam?
Isn’t this the most fair system? Teachers can choose to take the exam as many times or not.
What tests did Bill Gates take to qualify for his job?…wait, he’s a college dropout. What tests did he take to become the czar of public education, worldwide…wait, none. He’s self-appointed, not even elected. We can agree, he would fail a test on representative democracy, as a system of government?
They are not students, they are teachers. Have you read the comments? Pearson is creating nonsensical tests, which are not vetted, for the sole purpose of failing candidates so that Pearson can make money from multiple tests.
Alert! Alert!! There’s a giant blue bird flying in the air upside down and fell flat on the ground!!!
What can be done to stop Pearson? As a teacher candidate who is part of a cohort in Oregon in the last year prior to EdTPA’s full rollout, I want to know how to be first in line to protest Pear$on’s role in teacher education. Rather than spending more time crafting useful units and better activities, I have to be concerned with teaching my kids to speak “academic vocabulary” at the right moment so I can capture it on video, and fill out what’s likely to be 80 pages or so of prompts that feel too scripted to be real. The direction the system is headed in makes me ill.
We should do the same FOIL in Tennessee. But apparently we need lawyers as well.
Pearson is nothing but pure, unadulterated bullshit. Their only interest is the bottom line, and it only costs us the education of our children and teachers.
The organization UnKochMyCampus.org is gaining traction. A similar organization that worked to remove the Gates/Pearson influence in schools of education and, their associated education policy groups, is warranted, IMO.
CPRE, a consortium of universities focused on education policy, received funding from Pearson and Gates (per CPRE’s website). CPRE was founded by Columbia Teachers College President Susan Fuhrman.
3rd party community comment is accepted by college accrediting boards. Columbia Teachers College has a site visit by its accrediting group, MSCHE, March 9-11. The form to submit comment is available from the college.
Yes! Finally, the teachers are fighting back against these ridiculous exams they are just for profit . I know I had to take them several times myself and they kept getting higher and higher in cost to take most teachers do not have that kind of money to invest in retakes of these idiotic exams kudos for the teachers for being persistent in getting the information they needed in regards to Pearson’s not being authorized to administer the exams. I was always suspicious and uncertain about the methods used in grading and the administering of these exams. Keep up the fight!
What’s the rationale behind these exams? Do they make sure, the candidate can teach?
Reblogged this on 21st Century Theater.
So, let me get this straight–Pearson spends tens of millions of dollars of its own money developing these exams and then it should give them away?
I took the SBL exam when the test came out in 2010 and got my initial certification; however l decided to stay in my current position as a school counselor and start a family. Now my certification has expired and I was only able to put in for a two year extension because I couldn’t find a job in time. Now I will have to retake the SBL and take the additional EAS test, find a job, and have three years work experience as any adminstrator in order to get a permanent certificate. Besides paying for the exam again. How am I suppose to do all that in two years? It’s impossible and unfair. You should only have to take the exam once and should be able to renew your license in order to have more time. How would I have known in 2010 that they would change all the rules. How are we not grandfathered in. Additionally, my SDL license is permanent so why isn’t the SBL?
Please consider supporting petition to end edTPA in NY!
https://www.change.org/p/new-york-state-senate-end-the-edtpa-in-nys
Thank you for the article. I have spent the last two years becoming re-licensed in New York State. I spent fifteen years in Oregon as a licensed teacher and administrator. I cannot believe what I have gone through with the Ed Dept. I have glowing crendentials from colleagues and administrators. I have spent upwards of $1000 on tests and workshops and $300 on the EdTPA. This portfolio assessment is a huge money maker for Pearson. My intial EdTPA score was extremely low. I was shocked. I had to pay an additional $200 for a rescore of the test, which changed my final score dramatically. No apologeez from Pearson. New York State Ed is forcing these tests on state colleges in a bid of no confidence against teacher educational programs in the state. Furthermore, Pearson had the monopoly on nursing, police, and other credentialing programs. Who is benfitting from this monopoly besides the millions Pearson is taking in?