PARCC exams: How Pearson landed the deal to produce N.J.’s biggest test

HOBOKEN — In 1844, Samuel Pearson and his family started a small building firm to make bricks and lay sewer pipes in rapidly growing cities in northern England. More than 170 years later, Pearson is making money building something new — standardized tests. The British corporation is the company behind PARCC, the controversial new exams New…