Illinois State Board of Education Votes to Cut Testing Contract

The New York Times reported, "The Illinois State Board of Education voted to cut the state's contract with Harcourt Assessment Inc., the testing company that handles most of the testing required under the No Child Left Behind law and encountered significant problems in delivering tests to Illinois this year. The board said it would seek another vendor to handle the processing, scoring and reporting of tests. But it approved the continued use of Harcourt, one of the biggest testing companies in the United States, for test development and psychometric services. Rick Blake, a Harcourt spokesman, issued a statement apologizing for the problems and saying the company was "gratified" that Illinois would continue to work with the company on test development."

Now talk about rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic!

What is wrong with this picture? The action of the Illinois State Board of Education is something like firing the manager of a baseball team because the team is failing to win but retaining his services as general manager because he has a big name. What is crucial to understand, it seems to me, is that a major effect of NCLB is to privilege the services of some and only some test publishers creating profitable business for them while leaving those who are dependent on them to perform at their mercy. Shame on Illinois, shame on Harcourt, shame on NCLB.

Illinois State Board of Education Votes to Cut Testing Contract - New York Times:

Zoundry

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