McGraw-Hill Education Launches Mathematics Assessment Tool to Evaluate and Advance Students' Early Math Skills

NEW YORK, June 10 /PRNewswire/ -- It is important that teachers effectively evaluate their students' progress in math at an early stage to enhance instruction and individual student performance.  These are the same teachers who will benefit greatly from McGraw-Hill Education's TEAM (Tools for Early Assessment in Math), a new one-on-one screening tool used to measure students' math skill levels through a diagnostic assessment.

TEAM identifies students' level of thinking along learning trajectories for each core math topic, reports on their understanding of math skills and standards, and suggests activities that tie back to the math curriculum. Available now for PreK-2 classrooms, the product offers digitally rich and easily accessible programs compatible with Apple's iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, as well as any Internet-enabled computer, making it convenient and simple for teachers to collect and review assessment data anywhere, anytime. TEAM will be available for grades 3-5 in the winter of 2011.

Based on extensive academic research, TEAM provides teachers with an online management system to run progress reports after completing student assessments. These reports reveal a student's academic standing in comparison to the class average and learning track, and predict his or her state standards proficiency. Using the diagnostic data, TEAM provides student prescriptions, including individual, class enrichment and remediation activities that can be implemented with the current math curriculum in the classroom. Typically, teachers would conduct these assessments three times a year – at the beginning, middle and end of the school year – or more often for progress monitoring as needed.

"It is essential for elementary teachers to tailor their math instruction to the specific needs and challenges of their students and strive to overcome all learning gaps early on," said Bodie Marx, senior vice president of McGraw-Hill Education's Intervention, Special Needs, Supplemental & Assessment Center. "TEAM is the first universal screening tool of its kind for elementary math that effectively measures the mathematical skills of children to help prevent later learning difficulties and ensure lifelong math success. TEAM makes it possible for teachers to understand the learning trajectories of their students, pinpoint math proficiencies and deficiencies and develop individualized prescriptions and differentiated instruction to improve comprehension from the start."

TEAM was developed in cooperation with Dr. Doug Clements and Dr. Julie Sarama. Dr. Clements is a SUNY Distinguished Professor with the University at Buffalo's Graduate School of Education and an active member of the Mathematics Work Team focusing on the K-12 Common Core State Standards Initiative. Dr. Sarama is a professor of Mathematics Education at the University at Buffalo. "TEAM is the first tool of its kind to help teachers assess their students' progress along the core learning trajectories of early mathematics," said Dr. Clements. The research was conducted over a 12-year period and consisted of three pilot tests involving over 2,000 students in diverse classrooms.

Teachers also can use TEAM to align their current math programs with the Response to Intervention (RtI) method, a scientifically-based process of ongoing assessment and intervention to monitor student performance and provide early assistance to those students falling behind academically.

The TEAM program is available in English and Spanish. Student and teacher materials include a flipbook, manipulatives for assessment items, a teacher's guide, and online access for scoring, tracking and reporting.

About McGraw-Hill School Education Group

The McGraw-Hill School Education Group, a unit of McGraw-Hill Education, is a leading innovator in the development of 21st century teaching and learning solutions for K-12 education markets, offering traditional and digital instructional, assessment, and reference content and tools for teachers and students. The School Education Group addresses critical areas in primary and secondary education through Learning Solutions Centers focused on improving student learning outcomes and promoting digital innovation in literacy, STEM, college and career readiness, and intervention and special needs education. All of McGraw-Hill's content for elementary schools and secondary schools is available in digital form. McGraw-Hill Education, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE: MHP), has offices in 33 countries and publishes in more than 65 languages. Additional information is available at http://www.mheducation.com.

SOURCE McGraw-Hill Education