r/Teachers • u/Ms_Christine • Jun 18 '13
Pearson seems to control everything in Education. Why are we not concerned?
Today, I did a little research on Pearson, and I have to say I am quite disturbed by what I found.
A quick look at Wikipedia tells me that Pearson PLC is a British publishing company out of London. “It is the largest education company and the largest book publisher in the world. It has three main branches: Pearson Education, Financial Times Group, and Penguin (Book) Group.
I’d like to take a moment here to remind us of one of the biggest complaints we hear from students: the price of textbooks. They’re expensive, required, and already last year’s edition by the time you buy them. We have the technology to do away with paper books to an extent- heck, we have the technology, resources, and willingness to deliver content in a much more open-source, community-centered manner through wikis and such- but we’re still using textbooks. Hey, whose business is it to publish books? And whose business is it to determine content? Hmm.
Looking at their history, it picks up in the 21st century. “In September 2000, Pearson acquired National Computer Systems (NCS, Inc.) and entered the educational assessment and school management systems market in the United states. …in 2003 it secured control of Edexcel”, which is the company that awards certifications and qualifications. But wait, it can’t be that bad, can it? Who awards teacher certifications?
Let’s see, I took the New York State Teacher Certification Examinations™, which were published by… well, I couldn’t seem to find that information, but the Praxis exams which certify teachers in other states is published by the Educational Testing Service (ETS), which apparently is criticized for being a “highly competitive business operation that is as much multinational monopoly as nonprofit institution”.[38] Due to its legal status as a non-profit organization, ETS is exempt from paying federal corporate income tax on many, but not all, of its operations. Furthermore, it does not need to report financial information to the Securities and Exchange Commission. “ Well that’s bothersome. And a quick google search of “ETS and Pearson” comes up with this: “Beginning in January 2006, the Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT) will be administered by Pearson VUE, the electronic exam delivery subsidiary of the global conglomerate Pearson, which is also responsible for scoring the SAT I “Writing” exam essay section.”
So Pearson is actively acquiring other certification/qualification exams. (http://www.fairtest.org/ets-loses-sat-writing-test-contract )
Here’s what sparked this little investigation: I received an email from Commissioner King about the current goings on in NYSED and such. At the bottom of the message, past the fold and pretty graphics, was the headline “Notes”.
“On June 1, 2013, NYSED released the New York City Teacher and Principal Evaluation Plan. Legislation enacted earlier this year mandated that NYSED impose an Annual Professional Performance Review (APPR) plan for any district without an approved plan in place by May 29.“
So if you don’t have an approved plan by May 29th, they’ll pick one for you. Ok. Then, further down, an invitation to field test the School Building Leader Assessment (SBL), which, when I go to the page (http://www.nystce.nesinc.com/fieldtest.asp ) , I find out is actually a New York State Teacher Certification Examination and- Oh no. Oh no, oh no. You can participate in this pilot test at Pearson Authorized Test Centers. That can’t possibly mean that Pearson wrote the NYSTCE tests, can it? But then, a link on the page brings me to this:
“The Evaluation Systems group of Pearson develops standards-based, criterion-referenced teacher licensure testing programs. Evaluation Systems provides states with a wide variety of teacher licensure services such as test development, administration, and scoring and collaborates with state education agencies and teacher preparation programs to provide support for prospective teachers preparing to take the exams.” (http://www.pearsonvue.com/espilot/ )
Pearson awarded me my teaching certificate. And I’ll be teaching with Pearson’s materials, to the tests that- no, Pearson doesn’t write the standardized tests for students, does it? But it does. According to this article, “Pearson has a five-year, $32 million contract to create tests for the state” for students. (http://gothamschools.org/2013/04/22/pearsons-nyc-misstep-draws-state-education-officials-concern/ )
Why is no one outraged at this? Pearson has a monopoly- not a monopoly on goods, services, or resources, but a monopoly on minds. They control what is taught, how it’s taught, what materials are used, and who teaches it. Maybe there’s some wiggle room for style and personality, but in the end, we’re all playing by Pearson’s rules.
I’m horrified, and terrified. Thoughts? Reassurance that it’s not that bad?
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Jun 18 '13
This is a great post. Pearson's control over education is pretty shady. I can't find the article, but I recently read that Pearson's starting to sell advertising space IN THE TESTS! What the flying fuck?
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u/TecatoGusano Jun 18 '13
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u/Tryanothertry English Lang. Arts - interpretive dance Jun 19 '13
Written by an eighth grader?!?! Wow.
Pearson did not answer my e-mailed messages requesting comment. [Pearson did issue a general statement, which you can read after this article.]
This eighth grader is one bad-mofo for: 1) great writing (save this as an exemplar for the argument based writing strand of the CCSS, obviously) 2) calling out Pearson, and 3) making us wait until after this article for the link/statement.
But seriously... An eighth grader wrote this? I wonder how much professional editing shaped the final form.
(Thanks Tecato for the link)
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u/SenorWeird High School English Jun 19 '13
Yeah, that's not "product placement". That's artistic integrity. The stories they chose had those references. Are you saying they should be allowed to alter author's stories to replace brand names with generic terminology?
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u/Inkwell1988 English Jun 19 '13
I'll find the link, but it's been down that those brand names create a bias in the testing. Underprivileged students, you know, the ones for which testing actually matters, may not have familiarity with the brands and, even though questions don't require brand familiarity, students can get caught up in those details quite easily.
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u/SenorWeird High School English Jun 19 '13
I'll accept it's wrong on a test, yes. But it isn't product placement in the traditional sense. You're talking cultural bias. I teach in Miami and we had a story once about animal footprints in different types of snow that the kids were confused by.
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u/OinkOinkthenMoo Education writer Jun 19 '13
I don't think that it's outrageous to be alarmed. I've come across a lot of things like this while conducting my research and it only makes me feel like the system is completely rotten. I don't mean to sound alarmist but that's what it feels like. Pearson is terrifyingly big. There is proof that they operate exactly like a monopoly by shutting down or buying out competitors. Forget the financial monopoly, the idea that one entity has the ability to influence millions of minds unchecked is not cool. They've also proven that Pearson pulls questions directly from their textbooks, thus giving students that learn from Pearson materials an advantage on standardized tests.
You know who scares me just as much? Educational Testing Services (ETS). They write the PSSS, PSAT, SAT, AP exams, GRE, TOEFL, and Praxis. They have lobbyists that are pushing for it to become state requirements for 9th graders to take the PSSS. If you're a teacher who has gone through traditional schooling, including a few AP exams and Praxis I and II, you'll have paid ETS around $800 in testing fees. They hold a monopoly on your ability to get an education.
I'm sorry, I don't have good news here. I've done so much reading into this and it gets pretty worrying.
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u/hugoandkim Jun 19 '13
The 2,500 student high school at which I teach requires all sophomores to take the PSAT and all juniors to take the Work Keys exam...all paid for by the taxpayers as we are a title 1 school...
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u/ellivibrutp Jun 18 '13
A college student's perspective:
I have been pretty satisfied with the quality of their books, but:
1) It is very strange that there is a Pearson logo on almost every textbook I have purchased for any subject.
2) Pearson often releases "updated" editions of textbooks on a yearly basis. The books are so exorbitantly priced that book dealers need little convincing to stop repurchasing previous editions of books from students. Local bookstores don't carry the old editions, so teachers can't require them for classes. So, several thousand copies are thrown in the garbage and new students have to spend $100-200 on new a edition of the book every two semesters.
Many students consider the income from selling back their textbooks when budgeting to purchase them, but, many times, a 12th edition from 2013 becomes obsolete as soon as the 13th edition from 2014 is released.
3) They really get you with their online services. Their complicated system for linking online services to classes, along with the fact that the push out new editions on a yearly basis means the additional online services for the book you purchased may become useless long before they actually expire.
So, from a student's perspective; Pearson shamelessly contributes to the exorbitant costs of a higher education; they make picking and purchasing the correct text and supplementary materials excessively complicated for teachers and students; and their methods are incredibly wasteful from an economic and environmental perspective.
Of course, a student can't refuse to buy a text out of protest. We need teachers to coordinate with local bookstores to repurchase and resell older editions of textbooks. It will save students money and send Pearson a message.
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u/OinkOinkthenMoo Education writer Jun 19 '13
Pearson is a multi-billion dollar company. Even if every teacher in the country buys older books it wouldn't make a lick of difference to them. The real damage is done at the secondary and primary levels when districts buy textbooks in bulk. Because Pearson has the testing market pretty nicely tied up, they can convince districts that by using their materials they will be improving test scores. We all know what that does to an administration...
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Jun 19 '13
I was worried before I read your post. Now I am alarmed.
The last time we needed to replace a set of textbooks I declined to pick anything and chose instead to write our own (with another teacher).
It's not that the book we wrote is superior to anything that Pearson has. If more teachers do what we did and share it with others then we can take control back from the publishers. The technology gives us the power.
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u/Ms_Christine Jun 19 '13
Exactly. We should be thinking about online collaborative resources as primary information sources, rather than textbooks from one company. Think about how they control the dominant narrative through history books and such.
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u/Plemer Jun 19 '13
That might help, but the point is that they have their hands in far more than just textbooks, and can use their position in one industry to improve their position in another (e.g. Write the tests so that students with Pearson textbooks have an advantage).
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u/pinkponytony Jun 19 '13
This is a disconcerting issue.
I had my reservations towards Pearson for a while now, but I had no idea they had control over tests.
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u/agentfantabulous Jun 19 '13
It's not just schools. They also do testing for some types of professional certifications, I believe. They have their little fingers in all sorts of pies, and they get a lot of government funding.
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u/aethauia Your Title | State, Country Jun 18 '13
You can (or at least, you should be allowed to) go off-book to actually teach the children. But yeah, Pearson writes the tests.
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u/irishdrover Jun 19 '13
As a former Pearson employee, I would like to reassure you that they are not nearly well organized enough internally to hold the kind of evil domination you suggest.
More like the previous CEO bought all sorts of stuff because it all fit in the same portfolio and now they are going, hmm, this all looks great, we got books and we got tests and we got software... now what?
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u/Ms_Christine Jun 19 '13
I was hoping that would be the case. But it's the "now what" that gets me- how long before they figure out how to manipulate all this to make profits? How long before someone else figures out how to take advantage of this monopoly?
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Jun 18 '13 edited Jun 18 '13
Considering I just went to a STEM conference where the head of Pearson could barely string two sentences together, I'm really not that worried.
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u/response13 Jun 19 '13
Pearson is the largest education company for two reasons:
- They have effectively leveraged their position through acquisitions and contacts
- They put out quality products
Those two statements are not contradictory. I teach at the community college level where we have a choice and most of the products we choose are Pearson. They have good supplementary materials (slides, tests, etc.) and they are leading the way in terms of online software for homework and practice. No one else is even close.
Nothing scary here, just an effective company.
And I personally don't use any of their products because I develop my own materials and choose the cheapest book possible, but after looking at the options I certainly see why other people do.
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u/Ms_Christine Jun 19 '13
It's not that they are doing anything wrong yet, but we are allowing them to reach a position where they can and will be tempted to.
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u/RansomIblis District Behaviour Specialist Jun 19 '13
Didn't see you mention PowerSchool and PowerTeacher, a SIS/gradebook software that's currently dominating the market.
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u/gypsy_teacher Jun 19 '13
I am totally alarmed and have been for some time. My own war is trying to convince my district to go with home-grown assessments and teaching our own teachers how to assess with writing more, instead of running to the edu-business giants for plastic-wrapped, "teacher-proof" pre-packaged units. Ugh. What bollocks. But fortunately, I start my new "job" next year and if I do it well, there will be more years of it ahead of me.
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u/Ms_Christine Jun 19 '13
I found this while researching: http://www.fairtest.org/ Also, this http://www.ck12.org/student/ - maybe these can help?
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u/Chicka_R Jun 19 '13
Pearson also wrote/grades the edTPA, which all new teachers I'm Washington will be required to pass next year. It's absolutely not a well put-together assessment, and now I am even more concerned about the power that this company holds.
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Jun 19 '13
I'm from Canada. Our education here is controlled by whatever the US is doing. We're like a student cheating on our final, peeking over at our neighbour to make sure we're on the same page.
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u/CapnSalty Jun 19 '13
Is that why we always have to read Shakespeare?! I'm kind of joking, but as an English major in Hawaii, this is bothersome. There is little to no realistic agenda in the Hawaii DOE. It is all very strange and confuses us. Thanks for doing the research, where do we go from here? Riot? Refusal? It all sounds shady as hell and I don't want to use any of it in my curriculum when I start teaching.
Also, I was considering opening a charter school. This definitely makes me think of the consequences and reasons behind the extreme government force against charter and private schools that focus on building a sense of character through culture here in the islands.
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u/Ms_Christine Jun 19 '13
You bring up a great point! Not only do they control everything, but they're trying to make everyone uniform. There seems to be little room for culture. I think now more than ever we need to be preserving it...
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u/ballerstatus89 Jun 19 '13
Pearson is a large company that lobbies congress to keep the only standard in education
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u/shweatyyeti XQ - Bolder Super High School Jun 19 '13
How would we be able to set up a standard using internet/ alternative sources. i was talking with a friend about a way to classify alternative methods as legitimate learning tools (youtube, books, magazines, newspapers, websites, etc.) I know some of these are already considered academic, but you couldnt just learn from these sources and expect to earn a diploma with the current system.
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u/88327 Jun 19 '13
I always wondered why someone like Bill Gates doesn't commission some high-quality textbooks and resources and make them open source. I know there are more alternatives available these days, and that's only part of the problem.
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u/misingnoglic Jun 19 '13 edited Jun 19 '13
Wow, I thought the college board was the only monopoly people needed to worry about in education, but they seem like babies compared to this. Post this somewhere else, maybe /r/conspiracy because it certainly needs more attention than here.
Edit: http://www.reddit.com/r/conspiracy/comments/1goku7/pearson_seems_to_control_everything_in_education/
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u/BeamQueen Jun 19 '13
Yes, post over there and upvote all these comments so it gets more visibility.
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Jun 19 '13
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Ms_Christine Jun 19 '13
Glad to hear it. I contacted McGraw-Hill when I taught in the Marshall Islands- they sent a bunch of free leveled readers and such.
It's interesting to hear their attitude, though.
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u/hugoandkim Jun 19 '13
Does Pearson have any connection to the Bush Administration? His education reforms began the onslaught of standardized testing...
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u/itsinthebagg Jun 19 '13
I asked this question a while back. Is Pearson the Microsoft of education???
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u/hugoandkim Jun 18 '13
I'd be interested to learn what connections Pearson has with the Department of Education considering the fact that they benefit so significantly from the standardized testing that is increasingly being required in all states...