Measured Progress Launches New COMMON CORE Assessment Program at ASCD Conference

CHICAGO, March 15, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today, Measured Progress announced the debut of its COMMON CORE Assessment Program, a multi-component solution to help teachers and students become more familiar with the new levels of rigor of the Common Core State Standards. The COMMON CORE Assessment Program guides teachers as they help students make the transition to new standards and prepare them for next-generation assessments. Because items are newly developed and not back-aligned, students are exposed to English language arts and mathematics items that directly address the increased cognitive demands of these new standards—a feature many existing item banks don't provide.

The Measured Progress COMMON CORE™ Assessment Program includes:

• Testlets, short pre-configured tests that focus on key clusters and can be used
• formatively;
• a new Item Bank built from scratch to the Common Core State Standards; and
• professional development to guide educators through the shift to instruction and assessment reflecting the new demands of the Common Core.

True to the intent of the Common Core, our COMMON CORE Assessment Program provides students with the opportunity to show evidence of their understanding. The Item Bank and Testlets stretch students so they are able to answer more complex assessment items. For example, all paired reading passages were either chosen from authentic literary and informational works or written to expressly match the text complexity the Common Core requires, ensuring students are prepared for new curricula and next-generation assessments. Mathematics content includes short-answer items that span the five math domains and require students to apply their knowledge and show their work. Both English language arts and mathematics items include a Depth of Knowledge range of 1 through 3, which gives teachers the flexibility to assess students on item types of varying levels of complexity.

"We are pleased to be able to help educators connect the dots between Common Core instruction and assessment with the Measured Progress COMMON CORE Assessment Program," said Measured Progress President Martin Borg. "It's crucial for teachers to be able to prepare their students for the more demanding content they are likely to face on next-generation assessments; but more importantly, our educators need to know what concepts students misunderstand so they can adjust their instruction in real time. The COMMON CORE Item Bank and Testlets allow them to make instructional changes."

The Item Bank and Testlets comprise the first phase of the Measured Progress COMMON CORE Assessment Program. Districts throughout the country are field testing items from the Item Bank this spring to provide item statistics that will help build parallel forms that will measure both within-year and year-to-year growth. Measured Progress is still actively recruiting districts; those interested may contact our field test coordinator at [email protected] or 877.432.8294.

About Measured Progress
Measured Progress is a Dover, New Hampshire-based, not-for-profit organization dedicated to student learning and improving instruction in the standards-based classroom. Since 1983, Measured Progress has successfully partnered with more than 30 states and districts across the nation in support of assessment programs that have affected millions of students. Measured Progress develops state- and district-level assessments and is the nation's leading provider of alternate assessments for students with cognitive disabilities. Measured Progress also offers professional development services and solutions that assist educators in creating and using assessments that measure student achievement and improve instruction. As a not-for-profit organization, Measured Progress is deeply committed to its mission of helping educators improve student learning by connecting assessment, data, and instruction.

SOURCE Measured Progress