Pearson: Difference between revisions
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*'''DRM Prevents Resale and Sharing of Purchased Materials:''' Pearson restricts copying, pasting and printing pages from purchased ebooks and digital content. Unlike a physical book, a student cannot sell, give away, or lend their digital copy. | *'''DRM Prevents Resale and Sharing of Purchased Materials:''' Pearson restricts copying, pasting and printing pages from purchased ebooks and digital content. Unlike a physical book, a student cannot sell, give away, or lend their digital copy. | ||
*'''Limited Access''' '''to Purchased Materials:''' Pearson uses access codes for both "owned" and "rented" books and learning materials that | *'''Limited Access''' '''to Purchased Materials:''' Pearson uses access codes for both "owned" and "rented" books and learning materials that after the semester or year, the student loses access to material they bought or rented and prevents study materials for future courses and careers from being referenced. Consumers purchase a license to use, not own their books and education. | ||
===Inclusive Access & Default Opt-In Raises Tuition Fees=== | ===Inclusive Access & Default Opt-In Raises Tuition Fees=== | ||
Pearson's use of Inclusive Access prevents students and professionals from purchasing books and materials from other sources, buying older edition textbooks, or renting materials through other sources.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Duplantis |first=Hilary |date=2024-08-24 |title=Inclusive Access in Higher Education: Unlocking Student Success |url=https://www.pearson.com/en-us/higher-education/insights-and-events/teaching-and-learning-blog/2024/02/inclusive-access-in-higher-education--unlocking-student-success.html |website=Pearson Inclusive Access}}</ref> Known in the publishing industry as Inclusive Access or Equitable Access programs, students are automatically charged by colleges | Pearson's use of Inclusive Access prevents students and professionals from purchasing books and materials from other sources, buying older edition textbooks, or renting materials through other sources.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Duplantis |first=Hilary |date=2024-08-24 |title=Inclusive Access in Higher Education: Unlocking Student Success |url=https://www.pearson.com/en-us/higher-education/insights-and-events/teaching-and-learning-blog/2024/02/inclusive-access-in-higher-education--unlocking-student-success.html |website=Pearson Inclusive Access}}</ref> Known in the publishing industry as Inclusive Access or Equitable Access programs, students are automatically charged by colleges and bookstores for access to mostly online versions of course materials assigned for their classes. This practice has enabled the growth of a digital subscription business model, as the default opt-in automatically bakes Pearson materials costs directly into student tuition and fees. Pearson claims it is to make things convenient and cheaper for students. <ref name=":0" /> There has been criticisms over extensive, round about opt-out processes and mandatory Pearson courseware systems used to grade homework that prevent those who do opt-out from participating in their classes.<ref name=":0" /> | ||
===Lack of Transparency, Non-Disclosure Agreements=== | ===Lack of Transparency, Non-Disclosure Agreements=== | ||
Pearson VUE's exam policy requires test candidates to | Pearson VUE's exam policy requires test candidates to accept the terms of the non-disclosure agreement (NDA) or any other terms and conditions presented to them prior to the start of the exam, contributing to lack of transparency. <ref>{{Cite web |title=Exam Policy |url=https://certiport.pearsonvue.com/Educator-resources/Exam-policies/Test-candidate.aspx |access-date=2026-01-12 |website=Pearson Vue}}</ref> | ||
==='''Market Control'''=== | ==='''Market Control'''=== | ||
Pearson is the largest company in higher education with influence over test administration, teacher licensing, educational software, eBooks, grading, guidelines. The company has a history of undisclosed lobbying and applying non-profit funds towards their for-profit business.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hu |first=Winnie |date=2011-12-21 |title=Testing Firm Faces Inquiry on Free Trips for Officials |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/22/education/new-york-attorney-general-is-investigating-pearson-education.html |website=New York Times}}</ref> | Pearson is the largest company in higher education with influence over test administration, teacher licensing, educational software, eBooks, grading, guidelines. The company has a history of undisclosed lobbying and applying non-profit funds towards their for-profit business.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hu |first=Winnie |date=2011-12-21 |title=Testing Firm Faces Inquiry on Free Trips for Officials |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/22/education/new-york-attorney-general-is-investigating-pearson-education.html |website=New York Times}}</ref> Since 2021, the state of Texas has made efforts to move away from Pearson's 30 year monopoly over exam testing. <ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Gross |first=Allie |date=2015-05-20 |title=Pearson loses Texas testing account to ETS after 15-year relationship |url=https://www.k12dive.com/news/pearson-loses-texas-testing-account-to-ets-after-15-year-relationship/399546/ |website=ABC 13 Eyewitness News}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2021-01-05 |title=Texas hires two companies to run STAAR, moving toward statewide online testing |url=https://abc13.com/post/staar-tests-online-texas-public-schools-cambium-assessment-pearson/9357526/ |website=ABC 13 Eyewitness News}}</ref> | ||
==Incidents== | ==Incidents== | ||
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==='''Pearson Surveillance of Children's Social Media Accounts (2015 - )'''=== | ==='''Pearson Surveillance of Children's Social Media Accounts (2015 - )'''=== | ||
Pearson has admitted ongoing surveillance of online activity and social media accounts, comments made about their tests and test contents, and checking accounts against a list of students taking their exams. This has created backlash from parents and states against child surveillance. Among the information collected | Pearson has admitted to ongoing surveillance of online activity and social media accounts, comments made about their tests and test contents, and checking social media accounts against a list of students taking their exams. This has created backlash from parents and the consortium of states against child surveillance.<ref name=":5" /> Among the information collected include the child's name, state of residence, and which school they attend. Pearson states the surveillance is for due diligence and test security. <ref name=":5">{{Cite web |last=Singer |first=Natasha |date=2015-03-17 |title=Pearson Under Fire for Monitoring Students’ Twitter Posts |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/03/17/pearson-under-fire-for-monitoring-students-twitter-posts |website=The New York Times}}</ref> | ||
==='''Standards Breaches and System Failures''' '''(2025)'''=== | ==='''Standards Breaches and System Failures''' '''(2025)'''=== | ||
Pearson was fined more than 2 million pounds ($2.68 million) in 2025 due to standards breaches | Pearson was fined more than 2 million pounds ($2.68 million) in 2025 due to standards breaches from 2019 and 2023 that affected tens of thousands of students. Pearson failed to identiy and manage failures in inconsistent grading standards, despite Britain's Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation, Ofqual, highlighting the risks in 2022 and 2023.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-12-15 |title=Ofqual fines Pearson £2 million for rule breaches affecting thousands of students |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/news/ofqual-fines-pearson-2-million-for-rule-breaches-affecting-thousands-of-students |website=GOV.UK}}</ref> A £1,200,000 fine was also levied against Pearson several years prior for prolonged, systemic failures to comply with the reviews of exam marking, which must be conducted by an examiner who is not the original marker. Pearson was charged for operating under a "false assumption" of compliance.<ref name=":6" /> Problems continued even after Ofqual flagged similar problems at other exam boards, AQA and OCR. Pearson's breaches was noted to have significantly undermined and eroded public confidence in UK testing qualifications.<ref name=":6">{{Cite web |date=2022-12-13 |title=Notice of monetary penalty: Pearson, Reviews of Marking |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/notice-of-monetary-penalty-pearson-reviews-of-marking/notice-of-monetary-penalty-pearson-reviews-of-marking |website=GOV.UK}}</ref> | ||
==='''Data Breach and S.E.C. Settlement ''(2018)'''''=== | ==='''Data Breach and S.E.C. Settlement ''(2018)'''''=== | ||
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced a $1 million settlement against Pearson for omissions and misleading investors about a 2018 | The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced a $1 million settlement against Pearson for omissions and misleading investors about a 2018 data breach related to its AIMSweb1.0 web-based student performance tracking software.<ref name=":7" /> The data breach resulted in administrator login credentials of 13,000 schools, district and university customer accounts, along with millions of student usernames and passwords to be stolen. Pearson did not disclose this breach to investors until it was contacted by the media.<ref name=":7">{{Cite web |last=Page |first=Carly |date=2021-08-16 |title=Pearson to pay $1M fine for misleading investors about 2018 data breach |url=https://techcrunch.com/2021/08/16/pearson-to-pay-1m-fine-for-misleading-investors-about-2018-data-breach |url-status= |website=Tech Crunch}}</ref> | ||
==='''Unregistered Lobbying through University of Texas Endowments (2013)'''=== | ==='''Unregistered Lobbying through University of Texas Endowments (2013)'''=== | ||
$400,000 endowments were made by Pearson and their charity to The University of Texas College of Education Pearson Center for Applied Psychometric Research, which provides evaluation services for policymakers.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=Stanford |first=Jason |date=2013-12-19 |title=It's Time to Investigate Pearson in Texas, Too |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/pearson-new-york-settlement_b_4469167 |website=HuffPost}}</ref> State policymakers have went on to award Pearson over $1 billion in contracts since 2010, suggesting a conflict of interest, including a 5-year deal worth $462 million | $400,000 endowments were made by Pearson and their charity to The University of Texas College of Education Pearson Center for Applied Psychometric Research, which provides evaluation services for policymakers.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=Stanford |first=Jason |date=2013-12-19 |title=It's Time to Investigate Pearson in Texas, Too |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/pearson-new-york-settlement_b_4469167 |website=HuffPost}}</ref> State policymakers have went on to award Pearson over $1 billion in contracts since 2010, suggesting a conflict of interest, including a 5-year deal worth $462 million.<ref name=":3" /> Public opinion, advocates and lawmakers argued Pearson had too much influence over the state's education policy without scrutiny. Although Texas made it illegal for testing company lobbyists to serve on advisory boards and make campaign contributions, Pearson was allowed to operate without oversight. The Texas stance against lobbying was initially aimed at Sandy Kress, the architect of No Child Left Behind policy and a Pearson lobbyist who served on several state advisory boards.<ref name=":3" /> In 2021, Texas scaled down the 30-year Pearson monopoly by signing on ETS and Cambium Assessment, a Washington D.C.-based testing company a $262 million contract while reducing Pearson's contract to $126 million. <ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /> | ||
==='''Self-Dealing Fraud (2013)'''=== | ==='''Self-Dealing Fraud (2013)'''=== | ||
Pearson | Pearson was charged in the state of New York with a $7.7 million settlement for self-dealing fraud. <ref name=":4">{{Cite web |last=Gose |first=Ben |date=2014-11-18 |title=After a Scandal, Pearson Dissolves Foundation |url=https://www.philanthropy.com/news/after-a-scandal-pearson-dissolves-foundation/ |archive-url=}}</ref> Investigations found that Pearson contributed funds to its charity, Pearson Foundation, which then sent $540,000 of the funds to the Chief State School Officers and the copyright holder of the Common Core State Standards. Along with the Gates Foundation, the Common Core course was sold back to the for-profit Pearson company for $15.5 million.<ref name=":4" /> “The fact is that Pearson is a for-profit corporation, and they are prohibited by law from using charitable funds to promote and develop for-profit products,” said Attorney General Eric Scheniderman. <ref>{{Cite web |last=Hernández |first=Javier |date=2013-12-12 |title=Educational Publisher’s Charity, Accused of Seeking Profits, Will Pay Millions |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/13/nyregion/educational-publishers-charity-accused-of-seeking-profits-will-pay-millions.html |website=The New York Times}}</ref> <ref name=":1" /> | ||
===New York Statewide Exams Failure (''2012'')=== | ===New York Statewide Exams Failure (''2012'')=== | ||
{{Main|link to the main CR Wiki article}} | {{Main|link to the main CR Wiki article}} | ||
Pearson obtained a $32 million contract to administer New York academic tests plus a $1 million contract to maintain testing services with the New York State Education | Pearson obtained a $32 million contract to administer New York academic tests, plus a $1 million contract to maintain testing services with the New York State Education Departmentt. In 2012, a statewide systemic failure involving numerous test errors, printing errors, security breaches and lack of transparency affected the test administration test scores of hundreds of thousands of students. Thousands of students were denied from graduating due to the failure. The students were assigned further summer school attendance. The Department spokesperson's response was the victimized students would "benefit from the extra instruction in summer school."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gonen |first=Yoav |date=2012-06-26 |title=7,000 city students wrongly blocked from attending graduation |url=https://nypost.com/2012/07/26/7000-city-students-wrongly-blocked-from-attending-graduation/ |website=New York Post}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Otterman |first=Sharon |date=2011-08-12 |title=In $32 Million Contract, State Lays Out Some Rules for Its Standardized Tests |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/13/nyregion/new-york-in-contract-with-pearson-lays-out-rules-for-state-tests.html}}</ref> | ||
==Products== | ==Products== | ||
* MyLab® | *MyLab® | ||
* MyMathTest® and Mastering® | *MyMathTest® and Mastering® | ||
* Pearson Plus + eTextbooks | *Pearson Plus + eTextbooks | ||
* Revel® multi-media eTextbooks and interactive learning | *Revel® multi-media eTextbooks and interactive learning | ||
* Connections Academy full time online virtual Schools | *Connections Academy full time online virtual Schools | ||
* K-12 Online Schools<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pearson K-12 Online Schools |url=https://www.pearson.com/en-us/schools/products-services/k12-online-schools.html |website=Pearson}}</ref> | *K-12 Online Schools<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pearson K-12 Online Schools |url=https://www.pearson.com/en-us/schools/products-services/k12-online-schools.html |website=Pearson}}</ref> | ||
* K-12 Assessments for School Districts | *K-12 Assessments for School Districts | ||
* Pearson Clinical Assessments for Professionals, including BASC™-3, aimsweb®Plus and Q-global®<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pearson Asessments |url=https://www.pearsonassessments.com/professional-assessments/training.html |website=Pearson Assessments}}</ref> | *Pearson Clinical Assessments for Professionals, including BASC™-3, aimsweb®Plus and Q-global®<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pearson Asessments |url=https://www.pearsonassessments.com/professional-assessments/training.html |website=Pearson Assessments}}</ref> | ||
== See also == | ==See also== | ||
{{Ph-C-SA}} | {{Ph-C-SA}} | ||
== References == | ==References== | ||
{{reflist}}https://www.wiredacademic.com/2011/10/pearson-draws-criticism-from-new-york-to-texas-justified-or-unjustified/ | {{reflist}}https://www.wiredacademic.com/2011/10/pearson-draws-criticism-from-new-york-to-texas-justified-or-unjustified/ | ||