We are still awaiting the miraculous results of the Common Core. ACT scores declined.
Mercedes Schneider takes a deep dive into the scores and then reviews the payday for ACT executives.
“Feeding from the testing trough is paying off quite well for ACT. According to its 2015-16 tax form, ACT garnered $340M in revenue.
“One board member serving 2 hours per week was paid $40.5K– what is for many teachers an annual salary. Board members working 3 hours per week earned between $47.5K and $61.5K. Even “former” board members are still on the payroll for between $15K and $51.8K for 3 hours a week.
“Chief measurement officer, Richard Patz, received $786K in total compensation, and the former CFO, John Whitmore, and former president, Jon Erickson, remain on the payroll at $767K and $747K, respectively.
“Testing. Test prep. And retesting:
“A sweet deal for current and former ACT officers and board members.
“For the American classroom, not so much.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Nonprofits?
“Chief MISmeasurement officer, Richard Patz, received $786K in total compensation,”
There, corrected.
What did Upton Sinclair have to say about beliefs? “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.”
I knew you would catch that.error, Duane.
Thanks.
I would make one more change
Chief Mismeasurement Occifer
Or maybe it’s spelled Ossifer
Or Ossifier
These operations are like the modern patent medicine show. What a masterful marketing campaign! Let’s hope these tests go the way of patent medicines.
Early elixars included cocaine and heroin to cause addiction and hence repeat buying.
The heroin of the ACT and SAT is provided by colleges and university officials who continue to require the tests for admission.
The latter are chiefly responsible for the fact that ACT and SAT have had such a long monetarily successful run.
But given that many of the people who make up the board of trustees of ACT and College Board (which peddles SAT) are actually college admissions officers, it is no surprise that they would be spiking the elixar with heroin and coke the way they do.
In Tennessee, every junior takes the ACT, paid for by the state. This year, seniors got a free retake. What the state pays for the services of this non-profit I cannot say. What the state gets for this investment is the pride that comes from lining the pockets of a person in another state. ACT scores are part of our school evaluation, so you can bet there is a great scrambling about for the best scores you can get, including coaching and practicing, which seems to bother no one.
It’s quite possible (if not probable) that some of the people within your state (eg, who passed the law) are also lining their pockets.
Money has a funny way of finding it’s way back to the donor — like a homing pigeon.
Given the scale of the operation , it’s really hard to believe there is no corruption. And actually, even if no laws are violated, that does not mean there are no conflicts of interest which violate accepted ethical priciples.
And the convenient thing about being a lawmaker is that you can pass laws that ensure that bribery does not violate the law.
Bribery and kickbacks
“. . . which seems to bother no one.”
And it shouldn’t, at least in my thinking. How can one be bothered by trying to trump an unethical educational malpractice if one is mandated by law to participate. Besides refusing to participate which would be the preferred course of action, what else can be done? Well, maybe just actually teach in what one knows to be using the best pedagogical practices and saying to hell with the malpractice.
I won’t hold my breath waiting for that to happen as we’ve seen that the vast majority of teachers and adminimals are GAGA Good Germans in implementing the malpractices.