Bob Braun, who was one of the leading columnists for The Star Ledger for decades, is saying on his blog that the company that administers the PARCC test is “monitoring” childrens’ social media accounts for mentions of the test. The actions by Pearson, Braun says, were confirmed by the superintendent of the Watchung Hills Regional High School district, who was Verona’s former director of instructional studies, Elizabeth Jewett.
Braun has a posted copy of the email Jewett sent to her colleagues, about Pearson’s monitoring of social media posts by students in her district. The post says that she expressed concern to officials in the New Jersey Department of Education about the monitoring and the effect that it would have on student refusals to take the test. Ten percent of Verona students opted out of taking the PARCC.
According to Braun, New Jersey is paying Pearson $108 million to run the PARCC testing program. You can read his full story here.