Edgenuity and ETS Join Forces to Deliver Integrated Instructional Improvement Systems to K-12 School Districts
Strategic Alliance Another Step Toward Closing the Student Achievement Gap
| Source: Edgenuity
SUNNYVALE, CA--(Marketwire - September 4, 2008) - Edgenuity, a leading provider of
instructional improvement systems for K-12 education, today announced that
it has signed an agreement with Educational
Testing Service (ETS) to distribute ETS item banks with the Edgenuity Achievement
Suite. The agreement leverages the core competencies of each
organization -- curriculum, assessment, research and instruction -- to
deliver a unique, differentiated channel for analyzing multiple areas of a
school district.
Under the terms of the multiyear agreement, Edgenuity will license and
distribute the ETS item banks in conjunction with the Edgenuity Achievement
Suite, which is an advanced set of web-based applications that define
curriculum, analyze assessments and evaluate instructional practices in
school districts.
The ETS item banks measure reading, mathematics, science and writing skills
aligned to specific state standards measured by state summative tests.
Thousands of high-quality items were carefully created by ETS using a
rigorous item development process, and the items can be combined into
benchmark or formative assessments to help educators understand and monitor
student progress towards mastering state standards.
By providing ETS test items within the context of Edgenuity's instructional
improvement system, the organizations are enabling districts to not only
access quality items for benchmark assessments, but also to analyze this
data with other multiple measures of student performance (including grades
and rubrics). This data combined with instructional data from the Edgenuity
Achievement Suite allows teachers to become more instructionally effective
and districts to predictably increase student achievement.
"Edgenuity's expertise is in developing instructional improvement systems
that integrate a district's core processes. When coupled with ETS's
experience in item development, our collaboration will provide K-12
districts with richer data and analysis of the impact of their
instructional improvement processes on student outcomes," said Eric Docter,
president and CEO of Edgenuity.
While the Edgenuity Achievement Suite provides the mechanism for
institutionalizing good practices, Edgenuity also embeds professional
development and training to establish the core processes that are needed to
support the implementation of these practices. Under the terms of the
agreement, Edgenuity will provide these services to districts using both
the Edgenuity Achievement Suite and ETS items. New districts interested in
using ETS items will have the opportunity to build standards-based tests to
support their assessment of student progress.
"Our core competency is in item and test development, so we were looking
for a strategic ally with a complementary focus on developing advanced
systems to analyze instructional and assessment data," explains Robert
Block, ETS associate vice president for business development. "With
Edgenuity's comprehensive strategy for curriculum, instruction and
assessment, we believe they can leverage our many research-based products
and services."
About ETS
ETS is a nonprofit institution with the mission to advance quality and
equity in education by providing fair and valid assessments, research and
related services for all people worldwide. In serving individuals,
educational institutions and government agencies around the world, ETS
customizes solutions to meet the need for teacher professional development
products and services, classroom and end-of-course assessments, and
research-based teaching and learning tools. Founded in 1947, ETS today
develops, administers and scores more than 50 million tests annually, in
more than 180 countries, at over 9,000 locations worldwide. Additional
information is available at www.ets.org.
About Edgenuity
Edgenuity is a Silicon Valley-based software and services company providing
solutions to school districts for instructional improvement. The company
provides a comprehensive, integrated solution incorporating the three core
competencies for effective teaching: curriculum, instruction and
assessment. In addition to its software, Edgenuity assists districts with
professional services that integrate the work of curriculum, instruction
and assessment into a coherent strategy for improving student achievement.
For more information, visit Edgenuity's Web site at www.edgenuity.com.