Georgia Testing Company Sells Out - National Council of Teachers of English

Reports

Georgia Testing Company Sells Out


State: Georgia
Level: P12
Analyst: Moore, Michael

From the Savannah Morning News

http://savannahnow.com/column/2015-08-16/michael-moore-value-georgias-school-testing-questioned

CTB/McGraw Hill announced in June it is selling its CTB (California Test Bureau) to Data Recovery Corp., a Minneapolis-based company said to have worked in the testing business since 1978.

So what does this mean for our Georgia Milestones Test? So far we haven’t heard. But Georgia’s Milestones Test is supposed to be geared to Georgia’s Performance Standards.

In previous years, McGraw Hill was blamed for testing irregularities and disruptions in Georgia, as well as Oklahoma and Indiana.

As we move into the next cycle of online testing to our state’s particular standards, we lack any assurances that we will get tests that accurately measure both what is taught and what is learned. Georgia’s short-lived fling with PARCC may be over, but its dysfunctional relationship with McGraw Hill seems stronger than ever.

McGraw Hill gave Georgia its CRCT and high school graduation tests. The Georgia DOE awarded them a five-year, $107.58 million contract.

Our first testing was this past spring 2015, and, of course, there are no results to help with planning the start of this school year.

To get an idea of how big the testing business has become, in 2002 when the No Child Left Behind Act was signed states spent $447 million on testing. Within six years state spending went to $1.2 billion. With all the waivers handed out by the US Dept. of Education, last year’s testing cost states $1.1 billion.

As we move into year two of Common Core and sort-of Common Core testing, consider the plight of the poor testing companies. Two years ago, Pearson, the company developing the PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers) boasted a consortium of 24 states and the District of Columbia (Georgia was once a charter member of PARCC).

Today, with the growing political divide over standards and testing, PARCC dwindled down to just twelve states and DC. Three of those twelve, Arkansas, Mississippi and Ohio, are set to bail.