Vol. 41, No. 58
September 7, 2007
CONTACT: JIM MORRIS
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DESE Awards Contract to Develop End-of-Course Tests
State education officials have awarded a contract for the development of new “end-of-course” tests that will be ready for use by Missouri public high schools during 2008-09.
Preparations for the new exams are already moving quickly, and Missouri teachers will convene later this month to begin writing items for the tests, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education announced today.
Last month, DESE selected Riverside Publishing, one of the country’s leading testing companies, to design, publish and score end-of-course tests for algebra I, biology and English II. These tests will replace the current Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) tests used in grades 10 and 11.
“We will have to move fast to develop three new tests in time for the 2008-09 school year,” said Stan Johnson, DESE assistant commissioner, in a report yesterday to the State Board of Education. “We think Riverside has the experience and expertise to help us develop high-quality tests and meet our ambitious timetable.”
“We are excited about this opportunity to develop and deliver the MAP end-of-course assessments. We applaud the state’s vision and the work that has already been done to lay a strong assessment foundation in the state,” said Richard Swartz, president of Riverside Publishing.
Based in Rolling Meadows, Ill., Riverside now provides testing services for 12 states and has contracts to develop end-of-course tests in two others. The Missouri contract is valued at about $28 million over six years.
According to a plan approved earlier this year by the State Board of Education, the current high school MAP tests in math and communication arts will be eliminated in 2008-09 and replaced with the course-specific tests in algebra I, biology and English II.
All students will be required to take these exams when they complete the respective courses. The results will be used to meet state and federal accountability requirements.
Although the tests will be designed for paper-and-pencil administration and largely machine scored, local school districts will have the option of letting students take the tests online. The contract calls for three scheduled testing periods each year – winter, spring and summer.
State education officials also are planning to develop additional tests that will become available during the 2009-10 school year: algebra II, geometry, integrated math II and III, English I, government and American history.
A portion of the first three end-of-course tests will consist of open-ended “performance-events,” in which students must write a short essay, for example, or solve a multi-step math problem. These items will be hand-scored by the contractor and by local teachers. This will enable schools to use students’ performance on the tests as a factor in awarding final grades.
The first end-of-course exams will be ready for field-testing next spring (2008) and will be ready for operational use during the first semester of 2008-09.
About Riverside Publishing
Riverside Publishing is currently working with the New York State Education Department to develop a three-year sequence of new Regents exams in mathematics.
These are commencement-level exams, aligned to New York’s math learning standards.
The company also is working with the Oklahoma Department of Education to develop modified assessments for students with disabilities who are not able to take the state’s regular tests in grades 3-8 and high school.
As a charter member of the Association of Test Publishers, Riverside serves both the K-12 assessment market and the clinical assessment market with print, CD-ROM and online assessment tools. Riverside also develops custom, research-based solutions to meet the unique needs of states and school districts. Riverside’s flagship products include The Iowa Tests, the Edusoft Assessment Management System and the Woodcock-Johnson III comprehensive assessment system. Riverside Publishing was established as a wholly owned subsidiary of Houghton Mifflin Co. in 1979.