Pearson Positioned to Cash in on Pro-Corporate South Dakota Education Reform

The nice folks at United Opt Out National are fighting corporate education "reform" by advocating a boycott of Pearson Education, Inc. United Opt Out National draws connections between Pearson and the pro-corporate, anti-public-education agenda of the American Legislative Exchange Council:

ALEC-inspired advocacy for public education reform typically follows a path to privatization; that is, viewing educational practices vis-Ã -vis economic and capitalist principles. Strict school choice models, vouchers, private charter management organizations, and the erosion of collective bargaining rights are all examples of the economic management of public education. As opposed to a valuable public good, certain entities prevalent in the education reform debate are forcing schools to motivate themselves by profit and competition. What it means to be an educated person (e.g., college and career ready), what is important to teach (e.g., common standards), and how success is measured (e.g., standardized tests) are currently under significant transformation without the thorough vetting via democratic processes. And with the frustration and confusion ensuing from rapid developments occurring behind closed doors, outside the public spotlight of democracy, there are large corporations conveniently present to sell us products that will solve all of our problems.

Pearson is one such entity that as of late always seems to be at the right place and precisely at the right time. In other words, just as new legislation is passed, as new educational mandates are set, Pearson is suddenly able to provide the legions of educators and school systems clamoring for some kind of answer with just the right product. How can this be? In recent years, this once relatively small publishing house turned itself into a massive provider of a range of educational products, from traditional print materials for the K-12 sector, higher education resources and technology solutions for public school systems. It is one thing to have various products to sell and to allow the marketplace to judge their success or failure. It is another matter to reorganize the rules so that Pearson products are all one needs to buy to satisfy a range of emerging Federal and State education mandates [United Opt Out National, "Boycott Pearson Now," 2012.04.29].

Pearson Education Inc. puts a lot of your money in its pocket. It produces and processes South Dakota's current statewide standardized tests, the D-STEP. Pearson is trumpeting its successful pilot of new iPad-based standardized teacher observation and evaluation software in the Beresford school district. Pearson is thus well-positioned to cash in on the increased standardized testing and teacher evaluation paperwork promised by Governor Daugaard's education reforms.

Getting schools to opt out the testing industry's profiteering won't be easy. Parents applying to exempt their students from the state's tests can face some serious backlash. Keeping the teacher evaluation system from falling into corporate clutches will take action at the ballot box (and we're working on that). But it's worth a shot.