State will retain its school tests vendor

Oklahoma will continue its annual testing of public school students with the same vendor.

On Monday, it was announced that the Oklahoma State Department of Education has awarded Measured Progress a potential six-year contract for its testing program.

At its monthly meeting in July, the state Board of Education voted to approve a bidder selected by education administrators in a blind recommendation — without bidders identified — for a new contract worth tens of millions of dollars for English/language arts, math and science tests for public school students in grades three through eight.

Jeanene Barnett, deputy superintendent of assessment and accountability at the state Department of Education, said: “We had a competitive bidding process for this contract, and Measured Progress presented the best solution to meet Oklahoma’s needs. We’re very happy to be able to continue working with them on highquality assessments that will support our goals for continually improving student learning in our state.”

Measured Progress, a New Hampshire-based nonprofit company, took over the state’s testing contract in 2014. The new contract is a sixyear contract with oneyear renewals, designed to test students’ proficiency according to newly adopted state academic standards.

“Our relationship with the Oklahoma Education Department has been one of respect and openness from the beginning,” said Martin Borg, president and chief executive officer of Measured Progress. “We share strong convictions about creating opportunities for students, and about improving teaching and learning through meaningful assessments.”