Moar on Pearson
Huge, octopus-like, unethical company.
First aware of it when doing 4 mos of research on Common Core 5 years ago.
Several points:
Pearson has a monopoly on a lot of Common Core written material–textbooks, assessment tools, etc.
https://fortune.com/2015/01/21/everybody-hates-pearson/
Pearson GED: Worst of the bad
David Spring, an educational activist in WA state, has written widely about the Pearson GED, which is a disaster (see CAPS). Pass rate for GED plunged when their test was used (from 14,000 to less than 4000 per year in WA state). Washington state is one of 23 that only offered students the Pearson GED (as of July 2016).
https://springforbetterschools.org/9-restore-a-fair-ged-test
Pearson GED unfairly difficult
Even Ivy Leaguers can't even pass the Pearson GED:
"The GED, long administered by the nonprofit American Council on Education, is now a joint venture by them and the for-profit testing giant Pearson….And while results of the old GED just gave a score, the new computerized test comes with a customized study guide showing exactly what test-takers should study before trying again. There’s money in that, too. Pearson also sells test prep books and courses for all four new GED tests…."
https://www.thedailybeast.com/ivy-league-grads-cant-pass-the-new-ged
Pearson Foundation involved in setting Common Core Standards
see CAP.
Pearson appeared on the CCSS scene in 2009, at which time its nonprofit, the Pearson Charitable Foundation (PCF), paid the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) a $100,000 “grant.” PCF paid CCSSO two additional “grants” in 2010 ($340,000)12 and 2011 ($100,000). Thus, by way of its nonprofit (which Pearson “the For-profit” happens to primarily fund14 and which Gates also funds),15 Pearson paid over half a million dollars to one of the two organizations that holds the license for CCSS.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2015/09/23/common-core-the-gift-that-pearson-counts-on-to-keep-giving/