McGRAW-HILL DIGITAL LEARNING AND CTB/McGRAW-HILL LAUNCH ACUITY™
DIAGNOSTIC ASSESSMENT SYSTEM
Breakthrough Achievement Tool Is Tailored to District Curriculum,
Seamless Alignment with Classroom Workflow
Monterey, CA – March 29, 2006 – McGraw-Hill
Digital Learning, provider of the award-winning Yearly ProgressPro™
formative assessments, and CTB/McGraw-Hill, the leader in K-12 and
adult education assessment solutions, today announced the release
of Acuity™, a breakthrough achievement tool that helps classroom
teachers diagnose students’ strengths and needs while predicting
student success on state No Child Left Behind (NCLB) assessments.
Designed in collaboration with educators nationwide, Acuity is a
powerful suite of diagnostic and predictive benchmark assessments
with clear, concise, and informative reports that provide the data
that teachers need to help their students achieve.
“Benchmark assessments need to be planned as part of a collaborative
effort between a district and assessment provider,” said Dr.
Joseph A. Jacovino, chief accountability officer of the St. Louis
Public Schools. “In St. Louis, we worked with McGraw-Hill
to build an assessment solution using blueprints and item specifications
designed to mirror the scope and sequence of the district’s
curriculum, and test the critical grade level expectations that
are part of the state standards and assessment program. A predesigned
‘off the shelf’ product will not meet the necessary
alignment requirements among curriculum, instruction, and assessment,
or provide the most reliable data to drive improved teaching and
learning.”
Acuity is a classroom-friendly suite of assessments with both
online and paper-and-pencil administration options. Predictive Benchmark
assessments mirror state NCLB assessments in grades 3-8 and grade
10 in Math and Reading/Language Arts, and deliver immediate, actionable
data on student progress.
“We designed Acuity for teachers and classroom use,”
said Photeine Anagnostopoulos, president of McGraw-Hill Digital
Learning. “The Acuity Diagnostic Benchmarks are tailored to
district curriculum pacing and assess student retention and knowledge
of core content areas. Diagnostic reports show specific mistakes
students make so teachers can target instruction to improvement
needs – a powerful way to accelerate student performance and
help educators meet achievement goals.”
Multiple forms of the Acuity benchmarks are administered within
a classroom period every two months to monitor student progress.
These benchmarks are on a common scale so that student growth can
be observed within and across the grades of a content area. Empirically-based
predictions to expected performance on the state NCLB tests become
increasingly accurate over the academic year with the administration
of each Predictive Benchmark form.
“Educators need and want tools that conserve time and bring
greater value into the classroom, to maximize learning and create
opportunities for one-on-one instruction,” said David Seitter,
vice president of Online Sales, CTB/McGraw-Hill. “We’ve
grounded Acuity in our industry-leading resources and psychometric
excellence, to give teachers more time to teach, more time to address
the specific learning needs of each student, and more time to focus
on the priorities of today’s education environment.”
Additional benefits include diagnostic assessments built to match
the district’s curriculum, predictive benchmarks indicating
students’ potential performance on the state test, and an item
bank for additional practice and instructional exercises for re-teaching
concepts.
For more information, call (800) 538-9547 or visit www.ctb.com.
About CTB/McGraw-Hill
As the nation's leading publisher of standardized and standards-based
achievement tests for pre-school, elementary, middle, high school,
and adult education, CTB/McGraw-Hill LLC offers a broad range of
assessments, software and services. CTB/McGraw-Hill LLC is part
of McGraw-Hill Education’s Assessment and Reporting group,
and is owned by The McGraw-Hill Companies, a leading global information
services provider meeting worldwide needs in the financial services,
education and business information markets through leading brands
such as Standard & Poor's, McGraw-Hill Education, BusinessWeek
and J.D. Power and Associates. The Corporation has more than 290
offices in 38 countries. Sales in 2005 were $6 billion. Additional
information is available at http://www.mheducation.com.
About McGraw-Hill Digital Learning
McGraw-Hill Digital Learning provides research-based, standards-aligned
solutions that integrate diagnostics, prescriptive content, and
reporting to improve instruction and raise student performance.
McGraw-Hill Digital Learning is part of McGraw-Hill Education’s
Assessment and Reporting group, and is owned by The McGraw-Hill
Companies. Additional information is available at http://www.mheducation.com.
Media Inquiries
Kelley Carpenter
Director, Communications
McGraw-Hill Assessment and Reporting
(831) 393-7196
kelley_carpenter@ctb.com
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