Rhode Island Awards Interim Assessment Project to Measured Progress

DOVER, N.H., Dec. 5, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Rhode Island Department of Education has chosen Measured Progress as contractor for a project to develop test items that assess instructional content delineated by the Common Core State Standards.  The three-year, $5.9 million Interim Assessment Project will focus initially on mathematics content for grades eight through eleven. Funding for the project comes from the Race to the Top federal initiative.

The project will enable districts, schools, and teachers to create locally managed interim assessments—a valuable tool to help teachers pinpoint areas of curriculum for which students need additional or adjusted instruction. The Rhode Island interim assessments, which will be delivered online, will provide rapid turnaround of student results, so that instruction can be changed in real time—a benefit not offered by large-scale, statewide assessments.

Locally managed assessments will be ready for use by the start of the 2012-13 school year. They are being designed to interact with a new instructional management system (IMS) the state is also developing. Measured Progress will work with the state and the IMS developer to ensure Measured Progress's content and the system will integrate smoothly. The end results—locally managed assessments—will be available by the start of the 2012-13 school year.

The Interim Assessment Program represents a new chapter in a long-standing relationship between the State of Rhode Island and Measured Progress. The company has provided services to the state since the 1980s. Rhode Island is part of the New England Common Assessment Program, along with Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, for which Measured Progress is the contractor. In addition, the company develops the state's alternate assessment for students with severe disabilities and has provided professional development to Rhode Island educators.

"We take great pride in our many years of partnership with Rhode Island and its educators," said Measured Progress Senior Vice President Timothy Crockett. "We are proud to extend our relationship into the era of the Common Core and Race to the Top."

Measured Progress is a 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 half of the states across the nation in support of programs that have affected millions of students. The organization develops state- and district-level assessments and is the nation's leading provider of alternate assessment for students with cognitive disabilities. In addition, Measured Progress offers professional development services and products that assist educators in creating and using assessment to measure student achievement and improve instruction. www.measuredprogress.org

SOURCE Measured Progress