Despite 500,000 Test Victims, Promised Federal Study Still Not Yet Underway

Bloomberg.com isn't exactly the news outlet that I would expect to do an investigative piece on education issues, but apparently they've brought in some folks from other beats and staffed up with some education stars from other papers to do just that. And, as I've said 100 times before, there's no doubt that education is an industry. So it makes a certain amount of sense.

The first example is this long and generally critical piece (Special Report) looking into testing snafus that reporters David Glovin and David Evans say have victimized 500,000 students and aspiring teachers over the past six years. That's a big number, but as the report notes there are now some 45 million reading and math tests administered a year, not including licensing and college entrance exams. It's a $2.8 billion a year industry, over all, and $500 milion of that comes from NCLB. Test prep brings in more than the tests themselves, and has much higher profit margins.

Oversight and regulation? There's not much -- and, most dispiriting of all -- federal help is definitely not on the way: "In 2005, the Education Department's inspector general announced plans to study whether there's a need for federal review to detect and prevent errors. The study isn't yet under way, spokeswoman Catherine Grant says."

Previous Posts:
High Season For Testing Snafus
Regulating the Testing Industry?
Who's Covering The Testing Industry?
Publishing & Testing Giant Company Buys Troubled Competitor
Another Bad Headline For The Testing Industry
So Much Business In Education -- And So Little Coverage
EdWeek Covers the Business of Education