ITASCA, Ill., Feb. 22, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Arizona Department of Education (ADE) selected Riverside Insight’s Cognitive Abilities Test™ (CogAT®), the most respected and widely used test of student ability, to screen Grade 2 students state-wide for gifted programs. The ADE’s assessment choice supports the Department’s vision of promoting equity for all students to help them achieve their full potential. CogAT was specifically developed to be accessible to the broadest range of students and to ensure the greatest equity with valid and reliable results for identification and placement.
“We are excited to provide this opportunity that will help our schools more equitably identify our state’s Gifted learners,” said Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Kathy Hoffman. “Universal screening removes barriers to access and is a proven strategy to help identify students that have been traditionally underrepresented in Gifted Education programs – especially students who may be culturally, linguistically and socioeconomically diverse.”
CogAT, the #1 ability test in the market, according to an EducationWeek report, is the assessment tool that most effectively addresses the challenges of equity by identifying each student’s unique learning potential and empowering educators with the insights to help them achieve it. With demonstrated effectiveness with special populations, CogAT is uniquely positioned to meet the ADE’s requirements, supporting all learners including students with a disability or students acquiring the English language. CogAT is standardized with a representative sample of students from across the nation to provide both national and local norms, and it offers age-based Standard Age Scores (SAS) for the most fair comparisons of young students at different development and maturation levels.
“The Arizona Department of Education has a laudable and ambitious goal in wanting to provide a single, universal and comprehensive assessment for all students at the second-grade level – with the right identification and differentiation capabilities to help schools maximize the potential of each student,” said Matt Tebbe, General Manager of Group Products at Riverside Insights. “With its demonstrated effectiveness at supporting special populations and its ability to offer national-norms and age-based scores, the CogAT is the best assessment on the market and exceeded the Department’s requirements.”
ADE prioritized the importance of the program’s scalability, including a reliable track record implementing state-wide universal screening programs and robust online testing for up to 80,000 enrolled second-grade students. Additionally, CogAT satisfies the state’s requirements for separate scores for quantitative reasoning, verbal reasoning and nonverbal reasoning and provides reliable and valid scores at the highest ranges of the score distribution. CogAT also meets ADE’s needs for insightful data reported at the system, school, and student level and offers a variety of student metrics in each area of reasoning with national and aged normed scores.
“An accurate and comprehensive measurement capability is critical for a valid and fair assessment of a student’s learning potential, especially when it comes to special populations, such as students with disabilities and English-learner students,” said Dr. Joni Lakin, co-author of CogAT. “CogAT was designed for this particular purpose to be developmentally and culturally appropriate, including extensive fairness evaluation. We are thrilled to partner with the Arizona Department of Education to provide this assessment to so many of its students.”
CogAT in Arizona Schools
Arizona public school districts and public charter schools will be able to work directly with Riverside Insights to purchase and administer CogAT to support their universal screening programs starting in late March of 2022. To learn more about how CogAT can support equity and inclusion in identification in your district, please visit Riversideinsights.com/CogAT or Case Study: A Playbook for Advancing Equity and Inclusion in Gifted and Special Ed Programs.
About Riverside Insights
Riverside Insights, a leading developer of research-based assessments and analytics, is led by a powerful mission: to provide insights that help elevate potential and enrich the lives of students, clinical patients, employees and organizations globally. For more information, visit www.riversideinsights.com.
Contact
Maria Bradley
Kickstart for Riverside Insights
415-509-0498
mbradley@kickstartconsulting.com
