(There is an update to this post here, reporting that a judge in New Mexico put this Pearson contract on hold when another organization challenged it.)

I noted recently that two years ago the nonprofit group FairTest predicted that despite promises by policymakers that competition and innovation would result from school reform, it would be the same old education firms that would wind up with the big Common Core-related contracts. FairTest got that right.

Pearson, the largest education company in the world, which already has numerous contracts with states for testing and materials, just won a whopper: a contract with one of the two multi-state consortia that are designing new Core-aligned tests with federal funds. The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, or PARCC, is hiring Pearson, according to a news release, to develop test items and forms, deliver paper and online versions of tests, consult with states to come up with cut scores that determine what is a good score and what isn’t, report results to various constituencies, and analyze the scores.

How much is it worth to Pearson? Well, James Mason, a PARCC state leader who helped negotiate the contract, told Education Week that it all depends on a number of factors, including how many states and students end up participating in PARCC, but he said it was one of “unprecedented scale, in terms of states coming together.”

When making its prediction in 2012, FairTest, or the National Center for Fair & Open Testing, which is dedicated to ending the misuse of standardized tests, noted that some of the “same old firms” that would win contracts have troubled track records in terms of designing, administering and scoring exams. There’s quite a list of problems Pearson has encountered in various states with testing contracts, which you can see here. Pearson had to pay nearly $15 million in fines to Florida in 2010. This spring, Pearson-designed tests aligned to the Core are being given in New York State, with a number of problems being reported, including badly worded questions and test booklets with empty pages.

Pearson, it turns out, was the only bidder for the PARCC job.

PARCC just released this press release :