Edcite Puts Teachers in Control of Common Core Practice

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Nov. 7, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Edcite, a new startup providing teachers with online tools for Common Core assessment practice, today announced their public beta with built-in support for a growing number of official question types. 

• Edcite helps teachers create their own assignments and formative assessments using question types that mirror the Smarter Balanced and upcoming PARCC items.
• Teachers can familiarize their students with the online testing medium and format, while giving students immediate feedback with automatic grading.
• In addition to offering traditional multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank formats, Edcite also provides more interactive questions that require students to highlight or rearrange their answers in a reading passage, or drag-and-drop math answers and grouping questions. 

Teachers can join the Edcite beta program at http://www.edcite.com.

While higher skill levels in problem solving and critical thinking are necessary improvements from the Common Core standards and the new assessments, their one-size-fits-all implementation leaves teachers and students frustrated and confused.  An approach where teachers manage these new, more rigorous, assessments to fit their students is more likely to be successful. Edcite lets a teacher select or create questions for online assignments, which may be given early and often as small formative assessments.  With automated grading and standards-based reports, teachers can easily get early data on students' progress and improve outcomes. 

To see an overview of Edcite, please watch our video at http://youtu.be/MHq5e2yaF84.

"When I worked with Harvard Education Innovation Laboratory to develop Common Core math curricula over the summer," explains math teacher Brian McIntosh, "I was excited about the rigor of the standards and their corresponding assessments. However, I noticed that there was a lack of quality Common Core aligned resources to help teachers prepare students for the computer-based, highly rigorous tests.  I think Edcite is a very effective solution. Teachers will be able to provide Common Core aligned practice to their students, and students will have more immediate feedback about their progress."

In addition to its teacher-oriented content creation tools, Edcite also offers a library of assignments created and shared by teachers. With this, Edcite hopes to remove obstacles for teachers concerned about the transition to Common Core. Teachers can browse the Edcite shared library and find assignments they can immediately use with students or modify within the application. As a free platform for teachers, Edcite's flexibility and community-generated assignments will be a useful addition to classrooms and schools.  

"The transition to Common Core presents a unique challenge as well as opportunity to educators throughout the U.S.," said Adam Blum, CEO of OpenEd. "Edcite's edtech offering helps teachers meet the challenge while providing them with a powerful yet simple tool to improve their student's understanding of material - and the teacher's understanding of how their students learn."

About Edcite

Tony Thomas founded Edcite after growing concerned about the proficiency of students entering the workforce. He wanted to create a platform that would help teachers get their students to engage and interact more in their learning, as well as get immediate feedback on how well they were learning. When Common Core standards emerged, Tony saw their potential to improve outcomes, and felt that frequent practice would be key to helping students achieve the new higher standards.  He pulled together a small team of teachers and engineers, and focused Edcite on helping teachers provide their students with Common Core practice tailored to their specific needs.

Jennifer Kim
Public Relations
[email protected]
(408) 753-0825

SOURCE Edcite