Pearson

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Pearson (formerly Pearson Education) is the for-profit global education business arm of the Pearson plc conglomerate. Pearson provides textbooks, homework system platforms, educational content, assessment tools, exam proctoring and digital platforms to schools, universities and professional certifications worldwide.

Pearson

File:Pearson plc logo.svg

Basic information
Founded	1998
Legal Structure	Subsidiary
Industry	Education, Technology, Software, Artificial Intelligence, Information Technology
Also known as
Official website	https://www.pearson.com/

Consumer-impact summary

No Ownership Rights, Limited Access to Purchased Materials:

Pearson is phasing out ownership of print textbooks and replacing them with digital textbooks and subscription services. CEO John Fallon stated in a BBC interview, the move is made in "hopes the move will make more students buy its e-textbooks which are updated continually" and that the next generation of consumers, "they expect to rent not own." Purchase of print textbooks has been replaced by a monthly subscription service (Pearson+) and rented e-books have limited access periods that prevent access for future referencing.

• 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 limit access, after which the student loses access to material they bought or rented. This limited access prevents people from referencing study materials for future courses and careers. Consumers are essentially purchasing a license to use, not own their books and education.

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. Known in the publishing industry as Inclusive Access or Equitable Access programs, students are automatically charged by colleges or 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. There have been criticisms over extensive, round about opt-out processes and mandatory Pearson courseware systems used to grade homework and administer tests that prevent those who opt-out from participating in their classes.

Lack of Transparency, Non-Disclosure Agreements

Pearson VUE's exam policy requires test candidates to read and 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.

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. The state of Texas has made efforts to move away from Pearson's 30 year monopoly over exam testing.

Incidents

This is a list of all consumer-protection incidents this company is involved in. Any incidents not mentioned here can be found in the Pearson category.

New York Statewide Exams Failure (2012)

Main article: 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 Department and in 2012, a statewide systemic failure involving numerous test errors, printing errors, security breaches and lack of transparency affecting test administration and test scores of hundreds of thousands of students. Thousands of students were denied from graduating due to the Pearson failure on test scoring. 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."

Securities and Exchange Settlement and Investor Omissions (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 involving a data breach related to its AIMSweb1.0 web-based student performance tracking software that resulted the administrator login credientials of 13,000 schools, district and university customer accounts, along with millions of student usernames and passwords stolen. Pearson did not disclose this breach to investors until it was contacted by the media.

Products

This is a list of the company's product lines with articles on this wiki.

• Example product line one (release date): Short summary of the product's incidents.
• Example product line two (release date):

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See also

Link to relevant theme articles or companies with similar incidents.

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References

https://www.wiredacademic.com/2011/10/pearson-draws-criticism-from-new-york-to-texas-justified-or-unjustified/

https://www.pearson.com/content/dam/one-dot-com/one-dot-com/global/Files/get-the-facts/corporate-myth-fact-030116.pdf

https://www.reddit.com/r/Teachers/comments/1glwk0/pearson_seems_to_control_everything_in_education/

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/may/05/pearson-shareholders-reject-pay-revolt-john-fallon