Dive Brief:

• On Monday, Minnesota’s Education Department announced that Pearson would take $1 million off of its testing contract with the state following glitches during the spring testing season.
• The three-year contract is worth $40.8 million and covers the rollout of new Common Core-aligned tests in the state.
• The testing giant will also add nearly $4.7 million in additional services for the state and move the assessment to a new, more secure testing platform.

Dive Insight:

This spring, Minnesota’s testing troubles made national headlines after malicious online attacks and technical glitches temporarily shut down the state’s spring testing cycle. But the state wasn’t alone, as several others struggled with similar attacks and server failures in conjunction with a host of other testing troubles. 

Those glitches have cast a pall on Pearson’s once-dominant reign over the Common Core testing market. The company has recently lost testing contracts with Texas and New York. But it remains to be seen if other states will make similar moves, either by cutting contracts or dropping the vendor entirely.