Testing Vendor Scores $40 Million Contract Increase in Tennessee

State standardized tests are big business

Photo by Antoine Dautry on Unsplash

Tennessee standardized testing vendor Pearson will soon be collecting $40 million more thanks to Gov. Bill Lee’s administration extending and adding to the testing company’s contract.

Tennessee Lookout has more:

Amid uproar over third-grade reading scores and the prospect of thousands of failing students, Tennessee lawmakers extended the testing vendor’s contract and bumped up the total payout by nearly $40 million.

The Legislature’s Joint Fiscal Review Committee voted Wednesday to tack on another year for British-based NCS Pearson to administer TNReady and increase the total contract to $132 million from $93 million. The state previously paid $30 million a year to Questar to handle its main K-12 test.

Pearson became the state’s testing vendor of choice after Tennessee had a difficult time transitioning to online tests several years ago:

An $18.5 Million Emergency

Pearson’s lobbying expenditure reports show the company spends between $25,000-$50,000 a year to influence lawmakers.

I’m guessing the $40 million contract increase is considered by the testing vendor to be a pretty solid ROI for those expenses.

Pearson Wants ALL the Money

For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport

Originally published at http://tnedreport.com on May 31, 2023.

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