CAE-Assessment International Expands Test Development Group

    NEW YORK, NY, February 04, 2016 /24-7PressRelease/ -- CAE (Council for Aid to Education) and its subsidiary Assessment International announced today that it has expanded its test development group in response to growing demands for assessment development and psychometric services from educational publishers; educational technology providers; and city, state, and international education agencies and consortia.

"We are seeing an increased need for specialized and pioneering assessment development services," said James Hundley, executive vice president of CAE. "Recent changes in the K-12 and higher education arenas have caused a rising demand for CAE's services, including innovative, state of the art item creation, course and curriculum enhancement, and sound psychometric support as institutions and states endeavor to reinvigorate the teaching and learning experience." Education reform in both K-12 and higher education is shifting its pedagogical vision to focus more on applying students' knowledge to new situations and problems.

"CAE is in an excellent position to meet these needs," continued Mr. Hundley. "This position has been established through our advantage of being a long-time provider of innovative assessment services to educational and business thought leaders, and through our ground-breaking critical thinking assessments. Indeed, for the past decade, high schools and colleges have relied on CAE's performance-based assessments, CLA+ and CWRA+, to effectively measure and improve their teaching."

CAE has expanded its test development group in several key areas. New resources have been added to complement CAE's item editing, psychometric, program management, enhanced technology, and production departments. The expansion addresses not only the growing complexity of educational assessment providers, but also the increasing demand for standards-aligned assessment items and services. CAE's expansion will strengthen its ability to deliver high quality, innovative assessment materials on a larger scale.

"We now have a greater capacity to develop innovative item types that can measure the more sophisticated array of skills currently sought by educational institutions and employers," said Dr. Doris Zahner, director of test development and measurement science for CAE. "Assessment providers are coming to us to develop innovative measures of skills, such as communication and listening, collaboration, and critical thinking."

The recently passed "Every Student Succeeds Act" allows states greater flexibility to meet assessment requirements and has resulted in increased interest in assessment services. Similarly, in higher education, the growth of online and competency-based assessment has increased the market for assessment development. Competency-based education is defined as an assessment-based approach to earning credentials, course credits, and degrees.

About CAE-Assessment International

CAE and its subsidiary, Assessment International, provide assessment design, item development, and a full range of psychometric services. CAE-Assessment International is recognized as a leading provider of innovative, high quality assessment resources with a reputation for reliability, flexibility, and technical excellence. CAE publishes the Voluntary Support of Education (VSE) survey, which is the nation's sole source of empirical data on private giving to education. The organization has been serving the educational community since 1952.

CAE and its logos are trademarks of the Council for Aid to Education.

Please contact Dylan Forsyth, Partnership Manager, with questions at (212) 204-8408 or [email protected].

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