Pearson Testing flunks out, hundreds laid off in Austin

AUSTIN – Long the largest provider of testing services in Texas, education giant Pearson confirmed that it will lay off more than 200 Texas employees after the state chose another vendor for the majority of its new standardized testing contract.

Company officials confirmed that it would be laying off a total of 270 employees in its North American operations, with 208 of the layoffs coming in the Austin area as the company combines its four regional locations.

In May, the Texas Education Agency announced Pearson Education would no longer be the exclusive standardized testing vendor, a position the British mega-company had held for more than three decades.

Pearson had held the contract since 1980, but lost out on a four-year, $280 million contract in May to New Jersey-based Educational Testing Services.

Pearson will continue to have a presence in Texas and will remain home to much of the company’s research and development operations, and employees who include education researchers, scientists and former teachers.

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