Harcourt Assessment Introduces The Assessment Academy
New professional development services help teachers leverage assessment data to drive learning gains in the classroom.
San Antonio, Texas (PRWEB) October 4, 2007
Leading test publisher Harcourt Assessment today introduced The Assessment Academy, a comprehensive professional development program to help educators make the most of assessment data. The Assessment Academy's initial offerings include more than 12 different courses to ensure educators are able to use the assessment data to make informed instructional decisions to maximize student learning.
"Assessment data is a valuable resource for all educators, but can sometimes be confusing and overwhelming," said Kelly Goodrich, Vice President of Education Services and Support at Harcourt Assessment. "With these new professional development courses, Harcourt's assessment experts help educators to not only understand this valuable data, but to make data-based instructional decisions to maximize the achievement of their students."
The Assessment Academy's professional development courses are taught on location by experienced assessment experts. Courses range from three to six hours in length and will accommodate 30 to 50 participants. Through the courses offered, teachers will have the knowledge they need to provide challenges for gifted students, intervention for students who lag behind and instructional strategies for everyone in between.
Courses offered by The Assessment Academy include:
Assessment Literacy -A course to help educators understand the role of assessments, important decisions that need to be made, and how assessment data should appropriately impact everyday classroom instruction.
NCLB Annual Yearly Progress: What is the instructional impact of achieving the state's academic standards? -This course, designed for ELL classrooms, helps educators understand state accountability data and how a "complete" assessment system impacts their classroom.
Balancing Assessment Results in the Classroom: Making Instructional Decisions to Maximize Student Learning -In this three-module advanced course, teachers learn an instructional planning process and how to utilize assessment results to effectively monitor student progress.
-Modules include Standards Prioritization, Aligning Instruction with Assessment and Differentiating Instruction.
Using Stanford 10® Assessment Results to Improve Student Achievement Using the Stanford Diagnostic Reading Test® to Improve Student Achievement Using the Stanford English Proficiency Test® to Improve Student Achievement Using the Stanford English Proficiency Test® Results to Improve Student Achievement Using Learnia® Assessment Results to Improve Student Achievement
Additionally, the Assessment Academy also offers custom courses to inform teachers how to use the results from their statewide assessments to improve student achievement and positively align their school leadership.
With Assessment Blueprint for School Districts, The Assessment Academy offers a previously unavailable service. With this offering, Harcourt Assessment's assessment experts will analyze the assessment practices of a school district to help administrators determine if their assessment plan provides educators with the information they need to ensure maximized student learning. Harcourt's experts will help administrators to ensure their assessment plan is effective and efficient, while helping administrators to identify and eliminate assessment overlaps that may result unnecessary testing.
The Assessment Academy provides professional development on a broad range of topics for teachers, administrators, special education assessment personnel and technology coordinators at state, district and school levels. In the 2006-07 school year alone, Harcourt Assessment's experts have provided on-site professional development courses and Webinars for large-scale summative and for district-level formative assessments in 20 states and 20 school districts, delivering more than 100 professional development sessions to more than 1500 teachers.
For more information on The Assessment Academy, visit http://Harcourtassessment. com/AssessmentAcademy (http://Harcourtassessment. com/AssessmentAcademy)
About Harcourt Assessment, Inc.
Based in San Antonio, Harcourt Assessment, Inc. is a leading provider of high-quality assessment instruments and testing programs published under two brand names -- Harcourt Assessment and The Psychological Corporation. For more than 85 years, Harcourt Assessment and The Psychological Corporation have been providing insight about children and adults; informing instruction, curricula, and clinical practice; providing professional development to educators; collaborating with educators and clinical professionals; assisting human resources, admissions and credential professionals; and creating assessment innovations, in order to provide the most effective assessment solutions for the success of all individuals.
The company is a unit of Harcourt Education, a global education provider serving students and teachers in PreK through grade 12, adult learners, and readers of all ages. Harcourt Education is part of Reed Elsevier Group plc. (www. reedelsevier. com), a world-leading publisher and information provider. It is owned equally by Reed Elsevier PLC (NYSE: RUK) and Reed Elsevier NV (NYSE: ENL).
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