Assessment

Massachusetts District Adopts Assessment Platform To Give Teachers More Control

• By Michael Hart
• 03/21/16

Malden Public Schools sas adopted a new assessment platform in an effort to give educators more control over the learning process. The district selected Performance Matters' Unify to author, administer and analyze student performance. The 6,500-student school district started using the assessment platform in September.

Unify allows users to:

• Write and review instructional materials;
• Administer assessments that improve learning;
• Analyze student data from multiple sources; and
• Act on the information with resources that improve teaching and learning.

"Previously, we worked with a company that provided item banks and testing for us, but we needed more than that," said Malden Public Schools Superintendent David DeRuosi. "We needed a partner that would work with us to support our students, not just create more work for us."

The seven-school district has begun to use the platform to both author and administer benchmark assessments as well as mid-term and final exams. By the end of this school year, they will use it to analyze and act on the data on a very granular level, from the point of view of the entire district and individual students.

"One of the main benefits of Unify is that it puts information in the hands of the teachers," DeRuosi said. "Teachers will be able to access data from our benchmarks, mid-terms and finals, and see it in an easy-to-understand format. They'll also be able to create their own assessments for their classrooms."