NYC DOE To Deploy Acuity Assessments
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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.
Acuity is a suite of predictive and diagnostic assessments to measure performance in language arts/English, math in grades 3 through 12, and algebra in grades 6 through 12 against state standards. It includes both online and pencil assessments, as well as instructional exercises, and can generate various reports geared toward helping student achievement.
"Teachers have always used assessments to monitor their students' progress. Now they'll be able to find out quickly exactly what students are learning and where they need more help," said New York City Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein last week in a prepared statement. "These new assessment tools are quicker and more accurate than what our schools have today. They'll make it easier for our educators to tailor instruction to meet the individual needs of every student."
There are three components of Acuity to which New York City schools will have access:
- Instructionally targeted assessments to assess learning during a specific instructional period;
- Aligned instructional exercises, which provide personalized instructional materials to help students improve in a given subject; and
- Predictive assessments, which are aligned to grade-level standards and are designed to mirror New York state tests.
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About the author: David Nagel is the executive editor for 1105 Media's online education technology publications, including THE Journal and Campus Technology. He can be reached at [email protected].
Proposals for articles and tips for news stories, as well as questions and comments about this publication, should be submitted to David Nagel, executive editor, at [email protected].