Pearson

Pearson

Basic information
Founded	1998
Legal Structure	Subsidiary
Industry	Education, Technology, Software, Artificial Intelligence, Information Technology
Also known as
Official website	https://www.pearson.com/

Pearson (formerly Pearson Education) is the for-profit global education business arm of the Pearson plc conglomerate. Pearson provides textbooks, homework system platforms, educational content, assessment tools, exam proctoring and digital platforms to schools, universities and professional certifications worldwide.^[1][2]

Pearson phased out ownership of print textbooks and replaced them with digital textbooks and subscription services. CEO John Fallon stated in 2019 that the move was made in the "hopes [it] will make more students buy its e-textbooks which are updated continually" and that the next generation of consumers, "they expect to rent not own." Purchase of print textbooks was replaced by a monthly subscription service (Pearson+) and rented e-books have limited access periods that prevent access for future referencing.^[3]

Pearson also restricts copying, pasting and printing pages from purchased e-books and digital content through DRM. Unlike a physical book, a student cannot sell, give away, or lend their digital copy.

Despite using terms such as "owned" and "rented", the user is purchasing a limited license.^[4] Combined with the company's usage of required access codes for both "owned" and "rented" books and learning materials, this leaves the customer with very limited access.

Pearson's use of Inclusive Access prevents students and professionals from purchasing books and materials from other sources, buying older edition textbooks, or renting materials through other sources.^[5] Known in the publishing industry as Inclusive Access or Equitable Access programs, students are automatically charged by colleges and bookstores for access to mostly online versions of course materials assigned for their classes. This practice has enabled the growth of a digital subscription business model, as the default opt-in automatically bakes Pearson materials costs directly into student tuition and fees. Pearson claims it is to make things convenient and cheaper for students.^[5] There has been criticisms over extensive, round-about opt-out processes and mandatory Pearson course-ware systems used to grade homework that prevent those who do opt-out from participating in their classes.^{[citation needed (27 April 2026)]}

Pearson VUE's exam policy requires test candidates to accept the terms of the non-disclosure agreement (NDA) or any other terms and conditions presented to them prior to the start of the exam.^[6]

Pearson is the largest company in higher education with influence over test administration, teacher licensing, educational software, eBooks, grading, guidelines.^{[citation needed (27 April 2026)]} The company has a history of undisclosed lobbying and applying non-profit funds towards their for-profit business.^[7]

This is a list of all consumer-protection incidents this company is involved in. Any incidents not mentioned here can be found in the Pearson category.

Pearson obtained a $32 million contract to administer New York academic tests, plus a $1 million contract to maintain testing services with the New York State Education Department.^[8] In 2012, a state-wide systemic failure involving numerous test errors, printing errors, security breaches and lack of transparency affected the test scores of hundreds of thousands of students. Thousands of students were wrongly denied from graduating due to the failure and were assigned further summer school attendance.^[9]

In December 2013, Pearson entered a settlement — without admitting wrongdoing — with the state of New York for $7.7 million after it was found to have used its non-profit foundation arm to steer business to the company. Investigations determined that Pearson contributed funds to its charity, Pearson Foundation, which then sent $540,000 of the funds to the Chief State School Officers and the copyright holder of the Common Core State Standards. Along with the Gates Foundation, the Common Core course was sold back to the for-profit Pearson company for $15.5 million.^[10]

"The fact is that Pearson is a for-profit corporation, and they are prohibited by law from using charitable funds to promote and develop for-profit products." — Attorney General Eric Scheniderman.^[11]

As a result of the scandal, Pearson announced on 18 November 2014 that it was dissolving Pearson Foundation and expected completion of this by the end of that year.^[10]

After the announced settlement in New York, Jason Stanford of The Huffington Post published an article on 19 December 2013 contending that Texas state officials were failing in their oversight of Pearson.^[12] In it, he stated that:

[...] In 2009 and in 2010, the Pearson Foundation gave two endowments totaling $400,000 to the University of Texas College of Education, home to the Pearson Center for Applied Psychometric Research where they do "cutting edge statistical and psychometric research and evaluation services to further educational improvements ... and to inform educators, researchers, policymakers, and other stakeholders in the education process." And since 2000, these policymakers have given Pearson contracts totaling $1.2 billion.

He further went on to point out that a state audit published in July 2013 had concluded that the Texas Education Agency "lack[ed] adequate processes for monitoring the contract."^[12][13] Public opinion, advocates and lawmakers argued Pearson had too much influence over the state's education policy without scrutiny. Although Texas made it illegal for testing company lobbyists to serve on advisory boards and make campaign contributions, Pearson was allowed to operate without oversight. The Texas stance against lobbying was initially aimed at Sandy Kress, the architect of No Child Left Behind policy and a Pearson lobbyist who served on several state advisory boards.^[12]

Texas ended Pearson's status as the sole testing vendor in 2016 (a relationship going back to 1980), awarding most of the testing contract to New Jersey-based Educational Testing Service and kept a fraction with Pearson.^[14]

Pearson has admitted to ongoing surveillance of online activity and social media accounts, comments made about their tests and test contents, and checking social media accounts against a list of students taking their exams. This has created backlash from parents and the consortium of states against child surveillance.^[15] Among the information collected includes the child's name, state of residence, and which school they attend. Pearson states the surveillance is for due diligence and test security.^[15]

Pearson launched their subscription service, Pearson +, in 2021, for $14.99 a month to access the platform's full library or $9.99 a month if only one textbook was needed, requiring students to subscribe to a minimum of four months.^[16][17] Pearson reported sales growth due to their Inclusive Access deals, which automatically bills the cost of educational materials into student tuition fees rather than students purchasing books elsewhere or using secondhand sources. College administrators expressed hesitancy about using just one publisher, with some instructors pivoting toward open educational resources (OER).^[16]

On 16 August 2021, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced a $1 million settlement against Pearson for omissions and misleading investors about a 2018 data breach related to its AIMSweb1.0 web-based student performance tracking software.^[18] The data breach had resulted in administrator login credentials of 13,000 schools, district and university customer accounts, along with millions of student usernames and passwords to be stolen. Pearson did not disclose this breach to investors until it was contacted by the media.^[18]

Pearson was fined more than £2 million in total (about $2.68 million in USD) in 2025 due to standards breaches in three separate cases between 2019 and 2023 that affected tens of thousands of students. Pearson failed to identify and manage failures in inconsistent grading standards, despite Britain's Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual) highlighting the risks in 2022 and 2023.^[19]

A £1,200,000 fine had also been levied against Pearson several years prior for prolonged, systemic failures to comply with the reviews of exam marking, which must be conducted by an examiner who is not the original marker. Pearson was charged for operating under a "false assumption" of compliance.^[20] Problems continued even after Ofqual flagged similar problems at other exam boards, AQA and OCR. Pearson's breaches was noted to have significantly undermined and eroded public confidence in UK testing qualifications.^[20]

• MyLab®
• MyMathTest® and Mastering®
• Pearson Plus +  eTextbooks 
• Revel® multi-media eTextbooks and interactive learning 
• Connections Academy full time online virtual Schools
• K-12 Online Schools^[21]
• K-12 Assessments for School Districts
• Pearson Clinical Assessments for Professionals, including BASC™-3, aimsweb®Plus and Q-global®^[22]

• Pearson's History of Testing Problems — FairTest.org