Questar Assessment Welcomes Keith Koch as Its New Chief Technology Officer

APPLE VALLEY, Minn., Oct. 8, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Questar Assessment, Inc. (Questar), a leading educational assessment provider for states, school districts, and higher education institutions, announced today that Keith Koch has joined the organization as its new Chief Technology Officer (CTO).  

A recognized national expert on how people interact with virtual environments, Koch will apply his deep understanding of user-centered design to lead ongoing product development while overseeing all technology innovation, talent, and operations.

"Teachers and students need us to create more meaningful assessments and help them translate those results into real learning opportunities," said Jamie Post Candee, President and Chief Executive Officer of Questar Assessment, Inc. "There is no one in the industry today who is more visionary or more driven than Keith to help us deepen our industry-leading position in the key areas of innovative online testing and the actionable data that results from it."  

Prior to Questar, Koch served as CTO of Sophia Learning, a "flip the classroom" platform providing over 40,000 online tutorials and cloud-based learning management tools to K–12 teachers and students. Before Sophia Learning, Koch's 12-year career at Capella Education Company spanned a variety of positions, including Vice President of Online Products and User Experiences. While at Capella, he was recognized as one of the top 10 innovators in higher education by The Chronicle of Higher Education, and the company won numerous awards for its virtual campus, classes, and processes, including the IMS Global Learning Consortium "Best Outcomes-based Learning Solution" award.

Koch holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Minnesota and a Master of Arts from the University of Minnesota's College of Design, where he focused on human interaction within virtual environments. He will be located in Questar's Apple Valley, MN office.

About Questar Assessment, Inc.

Questar Assessment, Inc. is a leading educational assessment provider for states, schools, and school districts. Headquartered in Minnesota, Questar offers comprehensive custom assessment services—from large-scale statewide assessment programs to alternate, modified, and English language proficiency assessments. Questar provides complete, end-to-end services designed to address all aspects of assessment: from test design, development, calibration, and psychometric services to print production, distribution, scanning, scoring, reporting, and data analysis. Questar also offers customized online testing services to schools and educational entities in the K–12 market. For further information, visit www.QuestarAI.com or call 1-800-800-2598.

SOURCE Questar Assessment, Inc.