Industry News
NEW ALLIANCE AIMS TO IMPROVE ASSESSMENT AND DATA MANAGEMENT. Northwest Evaluation Association, a nonprofit provider of research-based assessment and analytical tools, and CompassLearning, a provider of online, standards-based instructional resources, have formed an alliance to offer advanced assessment, curriculum, data management systems, and related products. CompassLearning's Odyssey online instructional activities and assessment data have been linked to NWEA's Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) so that students will automatically receive an individualized online learning path once educators receive that student's MAP data.
Teachers can use NWEA's assessment data to identify where a student is proficient along a continuum of learning, and seamlessly provide that student with the appropriate curriculum learning path in CompassLearning's Odyssey. The instructional needs of all children will be able to be met, whether their proficiency is well above, below, or at grade level. The partnering effort includes several phases to be implemented in 2006. Additional phases will enhance the correlation between NWEA's MAP and CompassLearning Odyssey curriculum. Visit www.compasslearning.com or www.nwea.org.
FOLLOW THE LEADER. Educational Leader is a new service developed by Benchmark Education Company (www.benchmarkeducation.com), a leading provider of literacy products and services for K-8 students and their teachers. Leader is an interactive professional development Web site for teachers, literacy coaches, and mentors in grades K-8. The subscription-based site offers ongoing support in a variety of literacy topics, downloadable classroom resources, best-practice model lessons, and other support materials. Users will also find professional learning opportunities, collaboration, discussion, and support for classroom implementation.
Within the password-protected Web site, subscribers can select topics in their individual areas of need, to investigate at their own pace, place, and time. Sample lessons and other resource materials can then be downloaded for use in the classroom. There are also live chats and discussions with literary consultants and authors, and audio commentary from experts and practitioners. The Web site is capable of monitoring learning progress and professional-development credit hours, so subscribers can print a report as documentation of hours earned. Educators may receive graduate credit through Chapman University (CA). The cost is $295 per person for a 12-month subscription. Visit www.educationalleader.com.