CTB/McGraw-Hill Releases Texas-Aligned Acuity Assessments

CTB/McGraw-Hill, the leader in K-12 and adult education assessment solutions, today announced the release of Texas Acuity™, a comprehensive interim and formative assessment solution for students in Grades 3-8. The Texas Acuity system was developed in cooperation with Texas educators to promote student achievement with a flexible suite of research-based assessments built specifically to measure performance on Texas standards.

Acuity enables personalized, data-driven instructional decision-making and will provide educators with a strong indication of how students will perform on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) while there is time to have an effect on results.

"Texas has long been at the forefront of educational accountability measures, and this new tool for Texas educators will help students achieve their highest potential," said Ellen Haley, president of CTB/McGraw-Hill. "Acuity applies the latest research and technology to produce assessments with real advantages over traditional testing methods, enabling teachers to support all learners with instruction tied to true data-driven results."

A recent white paper published by CTB/McGraw-Hill summarizes the results of a body of research that indicates that formative assessment can accelerate learning among all students, including low-performing students, while helping to close achievement gaps and improve overall performance in schools and districts. A copy of the white paper can be downloaded at www.AcuityForSchool.com.

Acuity Texas is a classroom-friendly suite of assessments that can be administered using online and/or paper-and-pencil methods. Aligned to the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) Standards, predictive and diagnostic assessments are available in Reading/Language Arts, Math, and Science for grades 3-8. Also available for Texas educators is a comprehensive set of placement and assessment solutions for Algebra in Grades 6-12.

These assessments reflect the content structure of the TAKS and the results deliver same-day feedback to educators to inform and target their instruction to meet each student's strengths and areas requiring improvement. The Acuity suite includes actionable reports in a clear, easy-to-understand format. Individual reports are available for each subject, at the student, class, school, and district levels.

Acuity also includes an array of instructional resources to supplement the assessments:

   -- Self-paced instructional resources that include sound and guided
      practice for intervention for Reading/Language Arts and Math
   -- Texas State-Aligned Item Bank, with TEKS-aligned items for further
      practice and instruction
   -- Tools to allow teachers to add items to an item bank, and create
      custom assessments to highlight their local curriculum

Acuity heralds a new generation of comprehensive assessment programs that can change the way educators perceive assessment-a critical learning and teaching tool. Acuity contains four elements of a comprehensive formative assessment: ongoing measurement opportunities, in-depth reporting, analysis of performance data, and resources for targeted instruction. For an interactive product demonstration, go to www.AcuityForSchool.com or call a Texas Evaluation Consultant at 866.294.3224 for a live product demonstration.

About CTB/McGraw-Hill

As the nation's leading publisher of standardized and standards-based achievement tests for pre-school, elementary, middle, high school, and adult education, CTB/McGraw-Hill LLC offers a broad range of assessments, software and services. CTB/McGraw-Hill LLC is part of the Assessment and Reporting group of McGraw-Hill Education (MHE), a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE: MHP). MHE is a leading global provider of instructional, assessment and reference solutions that empower professionals and students of all ages. McGraw-Hill Education has offices in 33 countries and publishes in more than 40 languages. Additional information is available at www.CTB.com.

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SOURCE: CTB/McGraw-Hill

CONTACT: Kelley Carpenter
Director, Communications
+1-831-393-7196
kelley_carpenter@mcgraw-hill.com

Web site: http://www.ctb.com/
http://www.acuityforschool.com/
http://www.mheducation.com/