GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools

Two of the state math exams that students are set to start taking on Wednesday have errors, the State Education Department advised principals today.

On the fourth-grade exam, one question has two correct answers, the department warned. The eighth-grade test contains one question with no correct answer at all.

The admission comes as educators and parents are on high alert about the tests after the embarrassing revelation that the state’s eighth-grade reading exam included a revised and seemingly nonsensical literary passage whose moral was “pineapples don’t wear sleeves.” Together, the episodes have raised concerns about Pearson, the company that is in the first year of a five-year, $32 million contract to produce tests for New York State.

A spokesman for the department said the mistakes amounted only to typographical errors. But critics of the state’s testing program say the state is holding Pearson to a lower standard than it holds students. (more…)