Measured Progress/Nimble Assessment to Collaborate on $1.9 Million New Hampshire Education Program

DOVER, N.H., Oct. 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Students with special needs will have a greater opportunity to demonstrate what they know and can do as a result of a U.S. Department of Education Enhanced Assessment Grant. The two year, $1.9 million grant, awarded to the New Hampshire Department of Education, will fund an ongoing effort to create and use innovative online tools that enable students who are at risk or have special needs to participate in student assessments.

Under the terms of the grant, Measured Progress's Nimble Assessment division will develop a student accessibility assessment system to:

• improve educator understanding of computer-based accessibility options,
• enable educators to work one-on-one with students to explore test accessibility features (such as having texts magnified or read aloud to them) that improve access for students during testing,
• create more effective opportunities for students to become familiar and comfortable with the tools prior to testing, and
• provide evidence to educators that the use of a selected tool or set of tools benefits the student on a given test item.

In addition to New Hampshire, the states of Connecticut, Florida, Maine, Maryland, Montana, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Utah, and Vermont will participate in the project. The University of Oregon, Boston College, the National Center for Educational Outcomes, the Center for Applied Special Technology, the Educational Testing Service, the American Printing House of the Blind, and Gallaudet University will also participate in developing and validating the system.

Once developed and validated, the system will be made available to other state assessment programs, as well as the two Race to the Top assessment consortia, to improve the assessment experience for as many students as possible.

For Measured Progress and its Nimble Assessment division, improving accessibility for all student populations aligns with its history of leadership in assessment for students with disabilities.

"We recognize that a personalized assessment environment for all students can remove irrelevant barriers to student performance on assessments, providing a clearer picture of each student's true capabilities," said Measured Progress President Martin Borg.

Measured Progress is a Dover, New Hampshire-based, not-for-profit organization dedicated to student learning and improving instruction in the standards-based classroom. Since 1983, Measured Progress has successfully partnered with more than half of the states across the nation in support of programs that have affected millions of students. The organization develops state- and district-level assessments and is the nation's leading provider of alternate assessment for students with cognitive disabilities..  The Nimble Assessment division specializes in computer-based testing with an emphasis on accessible assessment for all students, including those with disabilities and special needs. www.measuredprogress.org, www.nimbletools.com

SOURCE Measured Progress