New standardized tests feature plugs for commercial products

[Tony_FLADEM]

Talk about corporate-based school reform. New high-stakes standardized tests aligned with the Common Core State Standards are featuring plugs for commercial products. And the companies didn’t have to pay a penny.

Yes, New York state students who this past week took Pearson-designed exams were just treated to plugs for LEGO, Mug Root Beer and more products from at least half a dozen companies, according to the New York Post.

One teacher who administered the test was quoted as saying:

I’ve been giving this test for eight years and have never seen the test drop trademarked names in passages — let alone note the trademark at the bottom of the page.

Students said the product plugs sometimes had nothing to do with the question, the Post said. Marco Salas, an eighth-grader at the Forest Hills middle school, was quoted as saying:

For the root beer, they show you a waitress cleaning a table and the root beer fell on the floor and she forgets to clean it up. Underneath, they gave you the definition that it is a soda and then the trademark.

The new Common Core-aligned tests were originally trumpeted as a major improvement over earlier exams in their ability to assess student learning, but they haven’t been the “game-changer” Education Secretary Arne Duncan had promised. Here’s why.

Pearson, the company that designs the tests for the New York State Education Department, says that the brand names in the tests they designed are “part of previously published passages due to choices made by authors.” Here the company’s statement about it:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/04/20/new-standardized-tests-feature-plugs-for-commercial-products/