THE Journal — Accountability/Assessment
Autodesk Launches Academic Certs
Software developer Autodesk is expanding its certifications to secondary and post-secondary students through its new Autodesk academic certification program. The credential students earn is the same as the professional-level credential but is offered at an academic discount.
(9/27/2007)
LA District Expands Assessments
Louisiana's LaFourche Parish School District, which serves approximately 15,000 students in 30 schools, has expanded its license of formative assessment and instructional offerings from Plato Learning.
(9/26/2007)
MetaMetrics Launches Lexile Framework for Writing
Adding to its Lexile Framework for Reading and Quantile Framework for Mathematics, MetaMetrics this week debuted its latest assessment tool, Lexile Framework for Writing, which is designed to measure student writing achievement on a "common, developmental scale over time and across the curriculum."
(9/13/2007)
Atomic Adds Assessments to Lesson Accelerators
Curriculum developer Atomic Learning this week announced that it's added an assessment rubric to its Lesson Accelerator lesson plans.
(9/13/2007)
ePals Delivers Free E-Mail, Blogging for Schools
Education technology provider ePals is making its formerly subscription-based services available to schools free of charge. These services, available to all schools around the world, include SchoolMail, SchoolBlog, and In2Books.
(9/10/2007)
OnCourse Expands Support for State Standards
Online education tool provider OnCourse Systems now supports education standards for all 50 states and has integrated those standards into its Lesson Planner, Grade Book, and Student Stats offerings, according to the company.
(8/21/2007)
Texas District Implements Plato Online Curriculum
El Paso Independent School District will implement an online intervention curriculum from Plato Learning, a developer of K-12 and adult education e-learning solutions. The new content will provide online credit recovery and state test remediation courses to 15 secondary schools in the district, with plans for additional implementation in the future.
(8/15/2007)
Ann Arbor Expands MY Access Deployment
Ann Arbor Public schools recently purchased additional licensing for Vantage Learning's MY Access, a writing software for K-12 students. With the purchase an additional 5,000 students within the district will gain access to the software. MY Access is designed to track reading and writing competency using AI technology and a rubric-scoring method to gauge student progress.
(8/7/2007)
Tucson USD Gives SmartMusic Subscriptions to Students
Tucson Unified School District in Arizona has signed on with MakeMusic to deliver the company's SmartMusic solution to 3,000 of its students. The move is part of the Opening Minds Through the Arts project, initiated in Tucson USD in 2001.
(8/7/2007)
Pasadena ISD To Deploy SIS in 56 Schools
Pasadena Independent School District in Texas has signed on with information management provider Mizuni to deploy a student information system, including a data warehouse and Web-based information portal, across all of its 56 schools, encompassing some 50,000 students.
(8/6/2007)
Wireless Generation Unveils Second Edition of mClass Reading 3D
Brooklyn, NY-based K-12 education technology and services provider Wireless Generation has released the second edition of its mClass Reading 3D K-3 assessment tool.
(7/24/2007)
NYC DOE To Deploy Acuity Assessments
The New York City Department of Education has inked a five-year deal with CTB/McGraw-Hill to deploy the company's Acuity assessment system. The contract is designed to support the city's ongoing periodic assessment program, which is meant to identify knowledge gaps and determine when interventions are needed.
(7/24/2007)
OnCourse Debuts Student Performance Analysis Tool
Educational application service provider (ASP) to public and private schools OnCourse Systems for Education (Gibbstown, NJ) has launched Student Stats, which helps teachers and administrators monitor student performance via access and analysis of standardized testing data in order to ease No Child Left Behind Act compliance.
(7/17/2007)
Harcourt Releases Learnia Advanced for Texas
Harcourt Assessment, the testing unit of publisher Harcourt Education, has released Learnia Advanced, Texas Edition. Learnia Advanced is a formative assessment suite for K-12 students.
(7/16/2007)
NWEA Improves K-2 Assessment Tool
The Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA), a non-profit based in Portland, OR that works with educational organizations to improve K-12 education, released new features for its MAP for Primary Grades computerized adaptive assessment system.
(7/10/2007)
Northern California Schools Access Pokemon Learning League
Pokemon Learning League is coming to schools in Northern California thanks to a new partnership with the Northern California Media and Technology Consortia (NCMTC) and the Ed1Stop portal. News of the partnership was announced at the 2007 NECC convention, going on this week in Atlanta, where the company behind Pokemon Learning League, Pokemon USA, also introduced a new online assessment system for the program.
(6/27/2007)
Kentucky DOE Taps BI Firm for NCLB Compliance
The Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) has awarded a contract to Claraview Inc., a business intelligence consultancy based in Reston, VA. According to the terms of the deal, Claraview will supply BI services to help improve student learning and help KDE in its efforts to comply with NCLB.
(6/19/2007)
SLC Launches Reading Progress Indicator
Scientific Learning Corp. (SLC) has debuted Reading Progress Indicator for the company's Fast ForWord line of reading intervention tools. Reading Progress Indicator is designed to measure students' reading progress when using Fast ForWord. It was developed by assessment provider Bookette Software Co.
(6/19/2007)
Interwrite SRS Adds Compatibility with LearnStar
Interwrite Learning has partnered with LearnStar to offer compatibility between the two companies' education technologies. Interwrite manufactures and develops student response systems designed for classroom use; LearnStar is the developer of SmartTRAX software and state-aligned question banks for classroom assessments.
(6/19/2007)
Nevada School District To Deploy Assessment System
In search of a formative assessment system for its 65,000 students, Nevada's Washoe County School District landed on the Edusoft Assessment Management System from Chicago-based Riverside Publishing.
(6/7/2007)
Ed Tech Groups Support ATTAIN Bill
The introduction this week of the Achievement Through Technology and Innovation (ATTAIN) bill in the United States House of Representatives was met with enthusiasm by groups that support education technology. The bill seeks to revamp Part D of title II of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to enhance professional development for teachers, improve technical proficiency in students, and otherwise support technology in various ways to advance student achievement.
(5/24/2007)
Fairfax County Gets Another Clue
Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia has extended its relationship with educational publisher FableVision, choosing the company's Get A Clue reading comprehension program for the fifth year in a row.
(5/18/2007)
Schools Help Struggling Readers with Soliloquy
Over the last month, two schools and one district have reported improvements in student achievement in reading resulting from a reading program based around speech recognition technology, Soliloquy Reading Assistant from Soliloquy Learning.
(5/17/2007)
Does Technology Matter in Schools? ED Wants Your Opinion
As part of an ongoing effort to assess the role of technology in education, the United States Department of Education (ED) has started seeking comments from those who work closely with it. Last week ED sent out a request for opinions from the public, looking to "hear your ideas on the integration of technology in education." We at THE Journal see this as a fantastic opportunity for educators and administrators to bolster federal support for ed tech and encourage all of our readers to participate.
(5/14/2007)
Angel Brings Podcasting, LOM to LMS
Angel Learning has released Angel LMS 7.2, an update to the company's learning management system. The latest update brings in native podcasting features and adds several new learning tools, including learning outcomes management (LOM) capabilities and native support for additional standards.
(5/8/2007)
