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NJ Outsources Test

New Jersey plays a prominent role in the lives of most students in the United States.  Educational Testing Service (ETS) is a Princeton-based testing company.  They’re the ones responsible for the SAT.

That isn’t the only test it creates, however.  The battery of tests New Jersey administers is also created by ETS.  I just administered the NJ ASK (assessment of skill and knowledge).  This test is administered to all New Jersey students grades 3-8.  High School students take the HSPA (high school proficiency assessment).  This too is an ETS test.

Today I received an e-mail that included a memorandum from Jay Doolan, Ed.D., Assistant Commissioner Division of Educational Standards and Programs.  Doolan  shared the news that ETS is out as New Jersey’s standardized testing program for elementary school:

The assessments for grades 3 and 4 will be administered starting in spring 2009 under a contract awarded last year to Measurement Incorporated of Durham, North Carolina.

New Jersey is in a dire financial crunch.  Taxes continue to rise.  Businesses lament the poor environment government has in place.  Many businesses are leaving the state.  Governor Corzine’s close friends in New York are awarded a state contract.

Now we find out our standardized test is being outsourced to North Carolina!  The premiere testing service is a New Jersey business.  Yet the state sends this multi-million dollar contract out of state.  Is it any wonder that taxes rise each year?

Also blogged on this date . . .

• Getting the House in Order - 2008
• AC Press Excuses Driving 91 m.p.h. - 2007
• A Return to Standards - 2007
• What Is Free? - 2007
• Gun Control In Pictures - 2006
• Chitown Bans Food - 2006
• Neil Young's Living With War - 2006

Tags: business, Education, New Jersey