Apple Valley-based Questar Assessment will provide most of the standardized tests for Mississippi beginning next year.
That state’s Board of Education voted Thursday to award a one-year contract worth $12.3 million to Questar. Mississippi has options to continue the contract for nine years after that, with a total 10-year cost of at least $111 million.
Other bidders included Pearson PLC and Data Recognition Corp.
Pearson has written Mississippi’s tests for years and authored the multistate test Partnership for Assessment of Readiness of Colleges and Careers test that Mississippi students are taking this year.
— Associated Press
BRIEFLY
Dunkin’ Donuts said it plans to develop 10 new restaurants in the Twin Cities Metro area with franchise group Legacy Concepts. … SunEdison announced that it has signed an agreement with Macalester College in St. Paul to offset 100 percent of the college’s electricity use with solar energy. … Jim Kruse, founder, and Melissa Kelley, president of J.F. Kruse Jewelers based in St. Cloud, have been named the Minnesota Small Business Persons of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration.
