Edmentum's Roadmap for Assessment Solutions

In this post from January, I talked broadly about Edmentum’s vision for assessment solutions. This month, I will speak more specifically to what Edmentum’s customers can expect to see in upcoming releases of Study Island, Study Island Benchmarks, and Edmentum Test Packs.

21st Century Technology-Enhanced Assessment Items

Edmentum first released technology-enhanced (TE) items in the summer of 2013 in Study Island. Since then, I have often been asked how many TE item types our products include. I am extremely happy to report that Edmentum has created more than 4,000 TE items to date and will add more than 2,300 by the start of the 2015–16 school year. It is important to note that all of Edmentum’s TE items have been developed in-house by our talented and credentialed curriculum subject matter experts. Unlike many education companies who purchase their TE items from outside vendors, Edmentum’s TE items will only appear in Edmentum products. For those who are interested, our item-writing process is available in the technical manuals we have published to support our assessment programs. 

Edmentum is not only adding more TE items, but we are also adding three new item types: drawing, multiple part, and video items. Edmentum will continue to support educators’ and students’ increased needs for more rigorous formative and interim assessments with additional item types and larger TE item banks.

Study Island Benchmarks and Edmentum Test Packs

Study Island Benchmarks and Edmentum Test Packs are developed from specific state test blueprints. Last year, we introduced new Pennsylvania, PARCC, and Smarter Balanced series (with four test forms in each series) for both Benchmarks and Test Packs. This summer, we will deliver new Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Virginia, Tennessee, and Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) programs for Benchmarks and Test Packs. All of these assessments will emulate the state and national assessments in terms of standards coverage and difficulty.

Edmentum Sensei for Study Island will also be extended to include data from both Benchmarks and Test Builder. This will provide educators with easy access to key data in order to help struggling students.

Study Island’s Formative and Standards Mastery Tool

Study Island was originally developed as a test preparation program, but it has grown into an impressive formative and standards mastery tool which continues to deliver on its promise to provide users with the most up-to-date standards content in K–12 education. In addition to the 21st century TE items discussed above, Study Island is updating its math and ELA programs for 40 states and science and social studies programs for 12 states. These programs keep pace with the robust changes that states are making to their curriculum standards.

Every summer and winter, Edmentum delivers new standards-based curriculum programs and cutting-edge features that improve the usability of our products. Our main purpose is to empower students and educators with inspired and innovative online solutions for learning. Edmentum’s 2015 roadmap for assessment solutions delivers on that promise.