CTB/McGraw-Hill Helps States Transition to Common Core State Standards With New CoreLink™ Services and Assessments

MONTEREY, Calif., Dec. 13, 2011 /PRNewswire/-- CTB/McGraw-Hill, one of the country's leading educational assessment partners, today announced the launch of CoreLink™ Services, the first research-based test item bank and set of services designed to help states progressively and successfully transition to the Common Core State Standards. Using engaging and challenging content combined with appropriate psychometric techniques, CoreLink Services offers states measurable feedback on student performance toward the new standards, providing a "bridge" between current assessment programs and the new Common Core State Assessments.

The implementation of the Common Core State Standards presents a tremendous challenge for educators as they seek to make a seamless transition to the new framework. Adopted at the state level in 2010, the new content standards align K-12 instruction across the country to provide a consistent, rigorous framework to prepare students for post-secondary success. The standards are being adopted for the first time this school year in 45 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, with many states working on transition strategies to migrate instruction, curriculum and assessment to the new standards.

As states begin to implement the new Common Core State Standards in classrooms and look forward to the common assessments, they will need immediate and ongoing feedback on student proficiency toward the new Common Core State Standards. CoreLink Services will help states ensure that students are grasping key common core content from the start and long before the anticipated 2014-2015 release of common core-specific assessments. The CoreLink item bank is extensively researched and vertically scaled, allowing states to measure growth and progress with the validity and reliability that their programs require.

"We are committed to supporting teachers, administrators and states through the adoption and transition to the Common Core State Standards and making the transition as smooth, successful and customized as possible," said Ellen Haley, president of CTB/McGraw-Hill. "Through CoreLink Services, CTB is proud to be the first company to offer the most comprehensive common core assessment solution available today."

CoreLink Services offers a high degree of flexibility for states, depending on their desired pace of, and approach to, adopting the new standards. For example, CoreLink Services can easily be used as a standalone item bank and set of services, or it can be paired with an existing state test to provide a reliable, valid and comprehensive overview of student performance on the new standards.

CoreLink assessments include a variety of item formats - including selected-response, constructed-response, technology-enhanced, extended constructed-response and performance tasks - that meet the increased rigor and depth of knowledge (DOK) associated with the new standards.

In addition to the new test items and services, CoreLink Services also offers research and professional development services to complement the program. As part of the professional development offerings, CTB will help teachers unpack the standards and utilize test information to inform instruction and interim assessments; provide item development workshops, and offer training on how to score performance tasks or provide direct hand-scoring of the items.

About CTB/McGraw-Hill
CTB/McGraw-Hill has an 85-year record of innovation and excellence in assessment, and serves more than 18 million students in all 50 states and in 49 countries. One of the first American publishers to introduce objective, standardized achievement tests to schools, today CTB/McGraw-Hill is a leader in testing with recognized products for online interim and formative, adult, and language proficiency assessment. Dedicated to advancing the use of student performance data to inform instructional decision making, CTB/McGraw-Hill's innovation continues today with technologies that include Web-based assessment and reporting, student response device software, and artificial intelligence for automated scoring of student essays. CTB/McGraw-Hill is part of McGraw-Hill Education, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies. McGraw-Hill Education is a leading global provider of instructional, assessment and reference solutions that empower professionals and students of all ages. For more information, visit CTB.com/AboutUs.

Contact:
Tom Stanton
212-904-3214
tom_stanton@mcgraw-hill.com

SOURCE CTB/McGraw-Hill

SOURCE: CTB/McGraw-Hill

Web Site: http://www.ctb.com