Pearson Education: Apart from $8 million spent lobbying from 2009 to 2014, Pearson also underwrote untold sums on luxury trips for school officials. A crackdown by the New York attorney general led to a $7.7 million settlement in 2013, and the shuttering of the “charitable” organization used for the scheme. The company is currently embroiled in a lawsuit in New Mexico for alleged bid rigging when landing an “unprecedented” $1 billion contract for K-12 testing with no other bidders, an allegation the company denied but which warrants greater scrutiny by policymakers.

ETS (Educational Testing Service): The $1 billion-a-year nonprofit pays its directors for-profit salaries. Outgoing president Kurt Landgraf received $1.3 million in total compensation in 2013. ETS has lobbied against legislation to require agencies to “immediately initiate an investigation” after complaints on “inadequate” testing conditions. It also lobbied against a bill designed to safeguard pupil data in subcontracting. ETS has also developed guidelines for tests which explicitly ban any mention of evolution and global warming.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt posted revenues of $1.37 billion in fiscal

year 2014 with a market share of 44 percent that includes some Common Core instructional materials, and a $13 million increase in higher assessment net sales. CEO Linda K. Zecher received $5.2 million in FY 2013.

McGraw-Hill: With rapid expansion of its testing business, McGraw-Hill’s state tests have been disrupted by “glitches” in multiple states, affecting tens of thousands of students taking the high-stakes exams. The company has not signed the the Student Privacy Pledge. [McGraw-Hill spokesman Brian Belardi said that the company plans to sign it.]