Lawmakers again seek role in choice of standardized tests

JACKSON — Lawmakers are seeking to revive efforts to force the state Board of Education to consider using standardized tests written by the ACT organization.

The move comes as state Supt. Carey Wright defends t he process by which the State Department of Education sought proposals for a contract to administer tests in grades three through eight and high school. ACT sent a letter saying it wouldn’t bid because it found Mississippi’s requirements too restrictive.

Rep. Mark Baker, RB r a ndon , an n o u nc e d March 18 that he wanted to introduce a late-session bill to ban Mississippi from using tests that were de- veloped by Pearson PLC for t he Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, a multistate group to which Mississippi once belonged.

Pearson was hired by New Mexico to develop tests for the PARCC consortium, and Mississippi officials sought to adopt the PARCC tests for multiple years last fall. But a Mississippi contract review board said it would reject the contract because off icials didn’t consider other vendors.

Mississippi then signed a one-year, no-bid $ 8.4 million emergency contract with Pearson, adopting the tests for this spring only.

The Mississippi Association of School Superintendents and others pushed t he selection of Iowa-based ACT, which makes other tests in addition to the college test of the same name.

To introduce a new bill late in the current session, Baker will need a twothirds vote of the House. But in January, the House voted 116-3 to mandate the use of ACT and ban Pearson’s PARCC test. Baker’s new bill would still ban Pearson’s test and would mandate t hat t he state Board of Education consider ACT, even though ACT declined to bid.

Wright said March 19 that there are several bidders, but would give neither a number nor their names. A spokesman for Pearson conf i rmed t he company had bid. Both Pearson and ACT have hired lobbyists to advocate with lawmakers.