NEW YORK, Feb. 13, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Council for Aid to Education, Inc. (CAE), a nonprofit developer of assessments that measure students’ essential academic and career skills, today announced its selection as an approved assessment provider for CESA Purchasing, a statewide cooperative educational purchasing agency in Wisconsin. The agreement enables public, private and charter K-12 schools, as well as districts throughout the state, to use CAE’s College and Career Readiness Assessment (CCRA+) with preferred pricing.
Designed for students in grades six through 12, CCRA+ assesses critical thinking, problem solving and effective written communications – essential skills that are predictive of positive college and career outcomes. These are also the skills that districts and schools include on their Portrait of a Graduate.
“CAE is proud to join CESA – a trusted partner to Wisconsin educators – to help schools and districts statewide access our assessment tools more easily,” said Bob Yayac, president and CEO, CAE. “Readiness is more than content knowledge. This collaboration allows for the effective evaluation of Wisconsin students to increase their opportunities for future success.”
The performance-based CCRA+ authentically measures students’ essential academic and career skills, providing actionable insights into their strengths and areas for improvement. It comprises a 60-minute performance task and a 30-minute selected response section delivered online through CAE’s integrated Next Step platform. The assessment can be used in-person, such as in a classroom or computer lab, online with remote proctoring or any combination of the two.
“We are excited to work with CAE to offer performance-based assessments that go beyond measuring content knowledge,” said Mitchell Lilly, executive director of marketing and communications, CESA Purchasing. "It’s important to provide tools to districts to help ensure all students in Wisconsin have the essential skills they need for their next step.”
CAE will provide onboarding, assessment administration and reporting as well as professional development to educators. Its student and institution reports include analysis and insights such as mastery level, performance task and selected response sub-scores, and comparison to CAE’s norm-referenced sample of more than 100,000 students. Additionally, CAE can provide districts and schools with evidenced-based micro-credentials, critical thinking instruction and custom performance-based assessments.
To learn more about CAE’s assessments, visit https://cae.org/solutions-cesa.
About CAE
Since 2002, CAE has developed performance-based and custom assessments that authentically measure students’ essential academic and career skills. Our Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA+) and Success Skills Assessment (SSA+) for higher education and College and Career Readiness Assessment (CCRA+) for secondary education evaluate the skills that are predictive of positive college and career outcomes and in demand by employers: critical thinking, problem solving and effective written communication. Over 825,000 students at more than 1,300 secondary and higher education institutions globally have completed CAE’s essential skills assessments.
As a nonprofit whose mission is to improve student outcomes, CAE also offers critical thinking skills curriculum, professional development, and designs custom, innovative performance assessments across all subject areas and grades. To learn more, please visit www.cae.org and follow us on LinkedIn, YouTube and Twitter.
About CESA Purchasing
CESA Purchasing is a free Wisconsin statewide cooperative that works with over 100 vendors to provide discounts and value-added benefits to K12 schools, libraries, technical colleges, and other non-profit educational entities. CESA Purchasing's mission is to level the playing field for all Wisconsin schools. By negotiating contracts on behalf of all Wisconsin schools, CESA Purchasing can create contracts with discounts that benefit the smallest school as much as the largest district. CESA Purchasing strives to stretch school budgets while offering relevant and essential products and services. Find more information about how CESA Purchasing can support your school's purchasing needs at www.cesapurchasing.org.
