ABSTRACT
For over a century, districts have contracted with outside vendors for functions such as test preparation and score reporting. Th ey have purchased off the shelf tests from publishers and contracted with vendors to administer the tests, score them, and generate reports. Much of the activity has focused on summative standardized tests. Since the late 1990s, however, as I discussed in chapter 2, the institutional landscape of K-12 testing contracts has shift ed. Current contracts between public school districts and testing fi rms encompass a broad range of activities. Th ey also are closely linked to the mandates of NCLB, specifi cally its requirements that all students be tested, that test scores be analyzed and reported diff erently, and that schools and systems that fail to make test score targets face sanctions. Th e emphasis on data and measurement also is a central strand of neoliberal policy, as noted.
