U Oregon Student Monitoring Program Gets Major Commercial Distributor -- THE Journal

U Oregon Student Monitoring Program Gets Major Commercial Distributor

By Dian Schaffhauser
08/22/11

A research center at the University of Oregon in Eugene has struck a deal with a major publishing company to sell and support a version of its learning management system. The university's College of Education Behavioral Research and Testing (BRT) group has signed with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt's scoring and assessment imprint, Riverside, as the exclusive distributor of easyCBM.

easyCBM is a computer-administered application that helps users monitor progress of students based on specific assignments. Specifically, the program provides reporting on student performance and trends in real time to help teachers sort out where each child needs a boost in instruction. Developed in 2006, the latest version of this response to intervention program covers K-8 reading and mathematics for district wide implementation.

A "lite" version free to individual teachers is still available from the research group. According to BRT, the free version will be "streamlined with nine alternate forms per measure type." This edition will be suitable for the teacher to monitor the progress of a group of students.

The group stated in a frequently-asked-questions document on its website that the partnership was necessary because "the incredible success of easyCBM simply far exceeded BRT’s capacity to support it." Riverside's hosting will include a toll-free support number and regional representatives who can help customers deploy the program and train users.

According to a statement from the company, 6.5 million easyCBM tests are being given each year, and 163,000 teachers use the data for their instruction. easyCBM is an approved tool by the National Center for Response to Intervention, an organization funded by the US Department of Education to provide technical assistance to states and districts in improving student learning.

"With [Houghton Mifflin Harcourt] serving as the exclusive distributor of easyCBM, teachers across the nation now have available a learning management system to use in their classrooms and schools," said Gerald Tindal, director of BRT. "It allows teachers and administrators to build effective programs and collaborate with each other using student performance and progress."

More information is available at easycbm.com.

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

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