the rest of the NYT article (not much more).
But industry executives insist that, while they try to persuade schools to use tests
appropriately, they are powerless to enforce industry standards when their customers are
determined to do otherwise. A few executives say privately that they have refused to bid
on state projects they thought professionally and legally indefensible.
"But we haven't come to the point yet, and I don't know if we will, where we are going
to tell California — where we sell $44 million worth of business — `Nope! We don't like
the way you people are using these instruments, so we're not going to sell you this test,'
" Dr. Paslov said.
Besides, as one executive said, "If I don't sell them, my competitors will."
The Expectations: Bush Proposal Raises the Bar
President Bush explained in a radio address on Jan. 24 why he wanted to require annual
testing of students in grades 3 to 8 in reading, math and science. "Without yearly
testing," he said, "we do not know who is falling behind and who needs our help."
While many children will clearly need help, so will the testing industry if it is called upon
to carry out Mr. Bush's plan, education specialists said.
Currently, only 13 states test for reading and math in all six grades required by the Bush
plan. If Mr. Bush's plan is carried out, — the industry's workload will grow by more
than 50 percent.
Ms. Jax, Minnesota's top school official, says she is not close to being ready. "It's just
impossible to find enough people," she said. "I will have to add at least four tests. I don't
have the capacity for that, and I'm not convinced that the industry does either."
Certainly the industry has been generating revenues that could support some expansion.
In 1999, its last full year as an independent company, NCS reported revenues of more
than $620 million, up 30 percent from the previous year. The other major players, all
corporate units, do not disclose revenues.
Several of the largest testing companies have assured the administration that the industry
can handle the additional work. "It's taken the testing industry a while to gear up for
this," said Dr. Paslov of Harcourt. "But we are ready."
Other executives are far less optimistic. "I don't know how anyone can say that we can
do this now," said Mr. Landgraf of the Educational Testing Service.
Russell Hagen, chief executive of the Data Recognition Corporation, a midsize testing
company in Maple Grove, Minn., worries that the added workload from the Bush
proposal would create even more quality control problems, with increasingly serious
consequences for students. "Take the Minnesota experience and put it in 50 states," he
said.
The Minnesota experience is still a fresh fact of life for students like Jake Plumley, who
is working nights for Federal Express and hoping to find another union job like the one
he gave up last summer.
But despite his difficult experience, he does not oppose the kind of testing that derailed
his post-graduation plans. "The high-stakes test — it keeps kids motivated. So I
understand the idea of the test," he said. "But they need to do it right."
Copyright 2001 The New York Times Company |
