A review of field testing for the PARCC tests found that many school officials had frustrations student with the student- registration process and test-administration manuals.
The market for testing and assessment has grown by 57 percent over the past two years, according to the Software & Information Industry Association.
Interrupted Internet connections sometimes caused issues in the field tests, according to a study that spotlights the need for sufficient technology infrastructure and bandwidth in schools.
Oklahoma officials scrambled to find a testing vendor for exams required for high school graduation, after another company, McGraw-Hill Education CTB, backed out.
The Data Recognition Corporation is protesting a South Carolina award to the ACT company to conduct grade 3-11 tests, a contract potentially worth $58 million.
An Education Week review of federally funded, common-core testing contracts shows McGraw-Hill/CTB, Pearson, and ETS winning the biggest deals.
The Mississippi department of education awarded an $8.3 million contract to Pearson, in a decision it said was compelled by a state board’s failure to act.
Jon Whitmore, a former university president who has been with the ACT since 2010, says he will retire from the testing organization in August of 2015.
Companies are selling academic materials designed to appeal to parents and others demanding an alternative to the common-core standards.
The American Institutes for Research is seeking to break up a potentially big Common Core testing contract that it says was improperly bundled and skewed to favor Pearson.