Illinois education officials today are set to announce the company that will administer next year’s state achievement test for elementary school students. The State Board of Education is changing test providers, after this year’s problems with Harcourt Assesment.
The problems threw this past spring’s testing period into chaos. Many Illinois elementary schools failed to get the state achievement test on time. Some received the wrong exam and dozens of school districts had to delay giving the test. Harcourt Assesment had to pay more than $1 million to rush the materials to schools. The company had a $45 million contract with the state board, but education officials stripped Harcourt of its test delivery and scoring duties earlier this year.
In recent days, the board has been negotiating a settlement with Harcourt, so it can go ahead and hire a new test provider. A rumored candidate is Pearson Education Measurement, which had the contract before Harcourt.