WebbAlign Helps Edmentum Refine Assessment Tools
Learning
software provider Edmentum is one of the
first companies to take part in a new partnership program initiated by WebbAlign,
an organization loosely associated with the University of Wisconsin-Madison,
that helps schools, companies and organizations better align
educational
standards, curriculum and assessments.
The WebbAlign DOK Partnership
Program, launched at EdNET last October, is intended to
provide hands-on professional
development consistent with the Depth of Knowledge (DOK) concept,
developed by
Norman Webb, which strives to create alignment between standards,
curriculum
and assessments.
To
start the new partnership, 50 Edmentum staffers attended DOK training
sessions
to acquaint themselves with the concepts. The WebbAlign team then
analyzed
Edmentum assessment items to provide feedback on their rigor and
alignment. These
seminars, part of the DOK Partnership Program, help ensure that the
language
system is being used as intended, and that the DOK concepts are
understood and
applied consistently within an education program.
Edmentum
is one of three organizations that signed on almost immediately to be
WebbAlign
partners. The others are Edgenuity and NWEA.
"As K-12 standards continue
to evolve to meet
college and career needs in a 21st [century] global economy, it is more important
than
ever that the Depth of Knowledge and the level of complexity be tightly
aligned
across instruction and assessment programs," said Dave Adams, chief
academic officer
for Edmentum, in a preparerd satatement. "By participating in the program, we know that our
offerings are
providing highly aligned, rigorous instruction and assessment for
students."
Webb,
the WebbAlign founder, said, "We are glad to work with Edmentum to help
them
develop instructional materials and assessments that are aligned to the
content
complexity of the standards."
About the Author
Michael Hart is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer and the former executive editor of THE Journal.