A month or two ago, a colleague in Texas shared the following information with the TEC-SIG list:

TEA has recommended that we do online testing in conjunction with the replacement of our TAKS tests to EOC testing that would take place in several years. TEA believes that we can do this online testing at a start up cost of $197 million and an ongoing cost of $81 million. The report also provides conveniently that our current Technology Allotment fund provides school districts about $135,000,000 per year (4,500,000 students @$ 30 per student).

However, a news report shares exactly how much testing costs now:

The Texas Education Agency outsources the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills to NCS Pearson Inc., which helps develop the tests. In 2000, the agency signed Pearson to a five-year contract worth $47.45 million — about $9.5 million a year to administer tests to the state’s students.

When that contract expired, TEA and Pearson inked a new five-year deal. This time, though, it was worth $160 million, which, at $32 million a year, represented nearly a fourfold increase. Since 2005, however, the contract has been modified several times.

The result: This year alone the state will pay Pearson $88 million to test Texas children.

Wow. Surely we can spend our money on something else besides high stakes testing?

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