For Immediate Release
October 4, 2006
ISBE Awards contract to Pearson Educational Measurement
for ISAT administrative services
SPRINGFIELD - The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) today awarded a
contract to Pearson Educational Measurement (PEM) for administrative services
for the Illinois Standards Achievement Test (ISAT) beginning in spring 2007.
The board's vote follows problems that arose in the spring 2006 testing cycle
when Harcourt Assessment, Inc. (HAI) did not deliver tests and answer documents
to schools on time, and produced tests that included printing and collation
errors.
"With today's action we are taking an important step to
move past this year's problems with delivery of tests to
our schools," said ISBE Chairman Jesse Ruiz. "While the
test itself received high praise, there were major problems
in the delivery process. We had to take action to make
sure that didn't happen again. We look forward to working
hand in hand with Pearson so that Illinois schools get
next year's tests on time and that the whole process goes
smoothly."
In a special meeting, the board unanimously voted to award
the contract to PEM for the following services connected
with ISAT:
- ISAT printing
- test distribution
- test retrieval
- providing raw scores from multiple choice and open
response test questions to Harcourt Assessment Inc. for
final scoring
- providing on-line services for review for demographic
data and score review
- preparing printed reports of assessment results for
students and schools
- and providing data disks of report results to school
districts.
"We're delighted to be working with Illinois again. We
were involved with the state's first statewide assessment
in 1988, and we have worked with Illinois schools for over
fifty years," said Douglas Kubach, president and CEO of
Pearson Educational Measurement. "We're looking forward
to applying our resources and quality processes to the
ISAT in 2007 and beyond."
Pearson Educational Measurement was founded by the University
of Iowa in 1953 as the Measurement Research Center, where
assessment pioneer E. F. Lindquist founded the Iowa Testing
Programs and developed the Optical Mark Reader (OMR) technology
and data collection services that are still used today
for scoring assessments. National Computer Systems (NCS)
acquired the business in 1983. In 2000, Pearson acquired
NCS. Pearson is part of the U.S. Assessments and Testing
businesses of Pearson Education. These businesses provide
assessment products, services and technology solutions
to customers in education, government, health care and
business settings.
ISBE and PEM will begin work immediately for the 2007
testing cycle. The initial term of agreement between ISBE
and PEM is through September 2009 for a maximum amount
of $32.9 million. The ISAT measures individual student
achievement relative to the Illinois Learning Standards.
The results give parents, teachers, and schools one measure
of student learning and school performance.
Last month ISBE awarded the contract for administrative
services for the Prairie State Achievement Exam (PSAE)
to ACT beginning in the 2007 testing cycle. The PSAE measures
the achievement of grade 11 students relative to the Illinois
Learning Standards for reading, mathematics, and science. |
