International education giant Pearson has won a major Common Core contract.

The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC), one of the two main multistate consortia that are designing Core-aligned tests, announced on May 2 that it had hired the company to develop, deliver and analyze results from the new exams.

Pearson will also help the consortium’s 17 states to develop “cut scores,” or performance standards, for the tests.

The contract is one of “unprecedented scale,” said Mississippi education official James Mason, who helped negotiate the deal.

Mason could not say how much the contract is worth since that figure will depend on the number of students in states that end up participating and whether they choose computerized or paper exams, among other factors. But the consortium estimates that it will cost $24 per student, down from a prior estimate of $29.50.

Mason said that the $24 price tag was reached after “very aggressive negotiating.”

The Washington Post, May 5
Education Week, May 2
PARCConline.org