Assessment

WebbAlign Helps Edmentum Refine Assessment Tools

• By Michael Hart
• 02/11/16

Learning software provider Edmentum is one of the first companies to take part in a new partnership program initiated by WebbAlign, an organization loosely associated with the University of Wisconsin-Madison, that helps schools, companies and organizations better align educational standards, curriculum and assessments.

The WebbAlign DOK Partnership Program, launched at EdNET last October, is intended to provide hands-on professional development consistent with the Depth of Knowledge (DOK) concept, developed by Norman Webb, which strives to create alignment between standards, curriculum and assessments.

To start the new partnership, 50 Edmentum staffers attended DOK training sessions to acquaint themselves with the concepts. The WebbAlign team then analyzed Edmentum assessment items to provide feedback on their rigor and alignment. These seminars, part of the DOK Partnership Program, help ensure that the language system is being used as intended, and that the DOK concepts are understood and applied consistently within an education program.

Edmentum is one of three organizations that signed on almost immediately to be WebbAlign partners. The others are Edgenuity and NWEA.

"As K-12 standards continue to evolve to meet college and career needs in a 21st [century] global economy, it is more important than ever that the Depth of Knowledge and the level of complexity be tightly aligned across instruction and assessment programs," said Dave Adams, chief academic officer for Edmentum, in a preparerd satatement. "By participating in the program, we know that our offerings are providing highly aligned, rigorous instruction and assessment for students."

Webb, the WebbAlign founder, said, "We are glad to work with Edmentum to help them develop instructional materials and assessments that are aligned to the content complexity of the standards."