For Pearson, the British-based international mis-education monolith, the United States has been a profit cow for more than a decade. Millions of students use Pearson's curriculum products in their classrooms. However, Pearson's reputation has taken some major hits as the company became embroiled in scandals, lawsuits, and complaints from educators and parents. Pearson was at the center of failed efforts by the Los Angeles school system to use iPads pre-loaded with Pearson content and settled a lawsuit with the district for $6.45 million. New York State forced Pearson Charitable Foundation to close and pay millions of dollars in fines for its ties to Pearson’s for-profit operations.
Pearson is a full-service vulture closely tied into the push for high-stakes Common Core assessment. Since 2014, it also has the contract to create common core aligned PARCC exams for the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers.Pearson also sells school districts their own tests, test prep material, test-aligned textbooks, tech support, and testing services like Pearson Vue. Teachers use PowerSchool (formerly a Pearson product) and Pearson’s SchoolNet software to record student grades. Pearson also operates alternative online schools and classes.
Pearson has continued to operate in the United States despite incompetent operation that has produced a series of missteps. In 2015, New York State, Arkansas, and Ohio ended their testing relationship with Pearson. In 2018, a New Jersey court ruled that the Pearson PARCC violated the state’s education laws. New Jersey's four-year contract with Pearson, the PARCC test vendor, ended after the 2018 exams. New Jersey educators and parents were also furious with Pearson when the company admitted that it monitored the social media use of students using its tests.
Now the state of New Mexico has declared war on Pearson for cheating its students and taxpayers.
Pearson has be investing in online courses and virtual schools because of weak textbook sales in the United States. One of its projects is the New Mexico Connections Academy, a for-profit charter school operated by the Pearson subsidiary Connections Education.
New Mexico’s Public Education Secretary-designate ordered Pearson’s New Mexico Connections Academy closed because it failed to properly educate students. The decision was based on the recommendation of the state’s Public Education Commission, which voted 6-3 to reject the 5-year-old school’s request for a charter renewal. The school’s student proficiency rate in math had dropped to 11% and it received grades of “F” for two consecutive years. In a maximum display of “hutzpah,” the charter school filed an appeal in District Court challenging that decision, claiming New Mexico statutes had not defined its “standards of excellence.”
A closer look at Pearson’s New Mexico Connections Academy makes clear why the state wants to close the “school.” It received about $6 million during the 2018-2019 school year to deliver its online “educational program” to stay-at-home students via phone and Internet. The payment is based on enrollment of 1,800 students, however, only 1,100 are being served. When the state requested a refund, school officials refused to turn over the money saying they were rolling it over for future use, which is at best questionable given their recertification issues.
New Mexico’s newly elected Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham also wants to end the use of Pearson’s PARCC exam, which was initially created with $180 million in federal money. New Mexico will continue to administer the PARCC exam this spring, but next year, New Mexico will join Maryland and New Jersey in no longer using the Pearson exam.
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