Lightspan Expands Online Assessment Program
Lightspan has added a new series of state-specific benchmark assessments for 10 states to its eduTest Assessment online assessment and accountability software. The company is also making available to all states national benchmarking test series in mathematics and language arts for grades 2-8. eduTest now includes assessments for Alaska, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia.
The new content emphasizes comprehension through items that reinforce higher-order thinking skills and require students to analyze, draw inferences and conclusions, evaluate, solve problems and apply their findings to other situations. Teachers and administrators are also able to view aggregated reports to measure progress by individual student, class, school or district.
The company is also offering its Assessment Builder, a new tool that allows school districts to customize online assessments to their needs. Administrators can create assessments that are correlated to local standards, use paper-and-pencil tests in an online environment, or create test items in additional languages and subject areas. They can also select from more than 60,000 test questions developed by Lightspan content experts or create their own. Lightspan Inc., San Diego, CA, (888) 4-ALL-KIDS, www.lightspan.com.