On April 30th, it claimed, erroneously, that the Pearson Group, which owns a slice of El Mundo and the whole of the Financial Times (of London), which in turn owns half of The Economist, is bent on buying Mediaset, the company embracing Mr Berlusconi's television empire.

ECONOMIST: Unfit to write about Italy?

After results were released in April, parents helped unearth four errors made by test publisher Pearson PLC.

WSJ: New York City Gifted-and-Talented Program's Math Is Questioned

In April, about 400 score reports weren't included in a file Pearson sent back to the DOE, and scores were delayed.

WSJ: Testing Firm Is Under Fire Due to Errors Scoring School Exams