CTB/McGraw-Hill And BrainPOP Collaborate To Deliver Personalized Learning Experience For K-8 Students

MONTEREY, Calif., May 14, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- CTB/McGraw-Hill, one of the nation's leading educational assessment partners, today announced that it is collaborating with BrainPOP®, creator of animated educational resources, to integrate BrainPOP's award-winning content for K-8 students into CTB's Acuity InFormative Assessment solution. The collaboration enables educators to use students' Acuity assessment results to assign BrainPOP instructional resources that are targeted to students' individual learning needs. Offering BrainPOP's animated movies and quizzes alongside Acuity's existing instructional resources allows CTB and BrainPOP to provide students and instructors with a deeper instructional experience.

Used by more than 100,000 teachers and 1.5 million students nationwide, the Acuity InFormative Assessment solution - available for students in grades K-12 - helps teachers effectively gauge performance and deliver tailored instruction for every student. Among its most popular features are Acuity Instructional Resources, a blend of supplemental instruction and practice assessment questions that provides educators with additional insight into a student's knowledge or skills in a particular area. Within moments of student completing an Acuity assessment, teachers can assign resources that target the student's most critical areas of need.

"Our extensive work with students, teachers and schools has shown us just how valuable instructional resources are in evaluating and improving student performance," said Tom Moellering, senior product manager for Acuity at CTB/McGraw-Hill. "By collaborating with BrainPOP, we're not only creating an instructional experience that deeply engages students, we're giving teachers more insight than ever before to help them personalize and enhance their instruction based on student needs."

Science-based research provides strong evidence for the effectiveness of BrainPOP, which is fully aligned to academic standards including Common Core. Its digital content appeals to students with a range of learning styles and can be used in classrooms, at home, and on mobile devices.

Through the collaboration, BrainPOP will make a breadth of English Language Arts, Math, and Science content available to its subscribers through Acuity. The resources available through Acuity will span both BrainPOP and BrainPOP Jr. (K-3). Additionally, BrainPOP will offer a selection of free content for Acuity subscribers without BrainPOP subscriptions.

"BrainPOP is committed to facilitating achievement and improving educational outcomes," said Avraham Kadar, M.D., founder and chief executive officer of BrainPOP. "Our focus on creating engaging resources that bridge the knowledge gap for students goes hand in hand with our commitment to helping teachers achieve their goals in the classroom. To this end, we are pleased to embark on an exciting and very promising collaboration with CTB/McGraw-Hill."

Through strategic alliances and product development, CTB is continually working to improve the instructional and assessment experience offered by Acuity, which has received eight industry awards and twice been named "Best Upgraded Product" by Tech & Learning magazine.

For more information on Acuity, please visit: www.ctb.com/acuity.

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 (NYSE: MHP). 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.

About BrainPOP
BrainPOP® (www.brainpop.com) creates animated, curricular content that engages students, supports teachers, and bolsters achievement - in classrooms, at home, and on mobile devices. Our proven and award-winning educational resources, uniquely suited for 21st century learning, include BrainPOP Jr. ® (K-3), BrainPOP, BrainPOP Español, and BrainPOP ESL. Our newest offering, GameUp™, highlights top, free educational games and aligns them to academic topics. All of our resources are supported by BrainPOP Educators, a free professional community more than 175,000 teachers strong. Aligned to academic standards and easy to use, BrainPOP sites host more than 11 million visits each month.

Media Contact
Tom Stanton
CTB/McGraw-Hill
(212) 904-3214
tom_stanton@mcgraw-hill.com

Traci Kampel
BrainPOP
(212) 574-6021
tracik@brainpop.com

SOURCE CTB/McGraw-Hill

SOURCE: CTB/McGraw-Hill

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