TALLAHASSEE — The Florida Department of Education reviewed two drafts of an ostensibly independent report on the validity of the state’s controversial new exams, and received the final report the night before it was released to the public, a representative of the company that performed the study and state officials said on Thursday.
An official from Utah-based Alpine Testing Solutions, which performed the study under a $594,000 state contract, told state senators during a legislative committee meeting that department staff checked two drafts of the report for factual accuracy. The department received the first draft on Aug. 26, nearly a week before the final report was released to the public, on Sept. 1, said Andrew Wiley, Alpine’s director of education services.
