Assessment | News

Promethean, McGraw-Hill Partner for Classroom Clicker-Based Assessments

• By Evan Tassistro
• 07/06/10

CTB/McGraw-Hill and Promethean have partnered to bring classroom clicker functionality to the Acuity line of student assessment products.

Announced at the ISTE 2010 conference in Denver, CO last week, the new functionality will allow students to take tests via classroom response devices by combining CTB's new Acuity UnWired software upgrade with Promethean's handheld ActivExpression clicker. Acuity assessments were previously delivered only in pencil-and-paper and online formats.

The wireless ActivExpression device communicates over a 328 foot range with an included hub plugged in to a computer USB port and supports entry of words, numbers, symbols, and punctuation with a cell phone-like key layout. It also offers several question delivery modes as well as a self-paced learning mode. Installation of included software is required on a computer system running Mac OS X 10.4.11 or higher; Microsoft Windows XP, Vista, or 7; or Linux (Ubuntu or Mandriva).

Split into predictive and diagnostic categories with question content aligned to state standards, Acuity assessments cover reading and language arts, math, and science for third through eighth graders, as well as algebra for grades 6 through 12. Custom assessments can also be generated with questions drawn from an item bank. Scoring and results reporting are performed remotely over the Internet on CTB servers.

More details about Acuity can be found here and ActivExpression here.