Pearson win another large US contract
Arguably one of the key reasons Reed Elsevier are selling Harcourt is the pasting they have taken from Pearson in the US educational testing market.
Pearson have now announced that they have won a contract to deliver the new Algebra II exam for nine of the 29 states who make up the American Diploma Project (ADP) Network. The states are Ohio, Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island. ADP was established by the bipartisan education not-for-profit Achieve Inc. in 2005 – with member states educating over 60% of all US public school students.
Pearson’s contract will run for four and a half years and they will develop, deliver and manage all aspects of the project which will include both paper and online testing. What is interesting about this deal is that it is the largest effort by a group of US states to develop a collective assessment system based on common standards.
Who ever buys Harcourt may find they have a hard task as Pearson seems intent on chasing expanded market share during Harcourt’s nterregnum period.