Acuity™ is a flexible assessment solution built to align
to a given state’s standards to measure what educators
value most. Unlike generic assessments, Acuity mirrors the look
and feel of state exams. Educators can be assured that what
they measure today reflects the NCLB assessment blueprint. For
more information on the research behind Acuity assessments,
please visit our Research pages.
Q: There is a lot of buzz about formative assessment. How can it help my district?
A: Formative assessment that uses high-quality,
valid, and reliable items that strictly align to a given state’s
standards, blueprints and pacing guides can yield an accurate
picture of student progress toward standards, so educators
can inform instruction in their classrooms.
Q: Why is Acuity better than a system we can build
on our own?
A: Acuity delivers a powerful formative solution
that is specifically designed to easily and quickly integrate
into schools. Acuity is a shelf solution—meaning it
can be quickly implemented to improve performance. Acuity
includes a significant investment from CTB/McGraw-Hill that
allowed for the development of high-quality, valid and reliable
items. Many districts attempt to create similar assessment
systems and significantly underestimate the development time
and cost of creating the items and the technology to deliver
them.
Q: My teachers are not technology savvy; will they
be able to benefit from Acuity?
A: Acuity delivers an easy-to-use classroom
solution for formative assessment. An intuitive interface
allows teachers to quickly assess students, interpret data,
and target instruction. In addition, CTB provides comprehensive
professional development (link), and additional support (link).
Q: I need to rally my teachers around common goals
and shared success. How can Acuity help?
A: Because Acuity is aligned to state standards,
educators can be assured that it supports teachers’
common goals. These alignments help teachers prioritize their
instructional plan and concentrate efforts on the most important
instructional areas. Our most successful customers have monthly
collaborative “data workshop” meetings based on
Acuity results, so teachers can share best practices.
Q: How can Acuity help me measure improvement in
my district?
A: Acuity predictive reports are based on
a common scale—enabling districts to measure growth
of students, classrooms, schools and districts within and
across school years.
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