State moves to dump school test overseer

Monday, Sept. 20, 2004 | 8:57 a.m.

The State Board of Education voted unanimously Saturday to dump embattled Harcourt Educational Measurement as overseer of the bulk of Nevada's standardized tests and instead give a $13.4 million contract to a different vendor.

The proposed switch to Measured Progress, a 20-year-old nonprofit testing company based in Concord, N.H., still needs the approval of the state's Board of Examiners.

Harcourt is currently responsible for the Nevada High School Proficiency Exam and the standardized tests used to determine "adequate yearly progess" under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

Measured Progress was chosen from several submitted bids, including Harcourt, which sought to retain its contract. Harcourt has been criticized for a series of high-profile blunders during the past two years, including incorrectly telling thousands of high school students they had failed the Nevada High School Proficiency Exam when they had passed.

Paul LaMarca, assistant deputy superintendent of testing for the state education department, said Measured Progress wants $450,000 less than what the state was set to pay Harcourt for the remainder of the contract, which runs through June 2007.

Measured Progress is also planning to provide two employees who will work at the state education department's offices in Carson City and Las Vegas. The new company will also handle the delivery and collection of test materials rather than require individual school districts to do it.