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Our Work
In many ways, Measured Progress defines itself through the people we serve: states, districts, schools, educators, and students. With a tradition of tailoring our work to their needs, we have provided a wide range of customized, innovative products and services.
Integrated State Assessment and Professional Development
Since 1983, Measured Progress has worked with more than 35 states and major districts to develop large-scale assessment programs for general education and special student populations. We currently support more than two dozen state clients nationwide. Here are a few examples of the wide range of programs and services we offer to our state clients.
Measured Progress has been the full-service contractor for the Maine Educational Assessment (MEA) since its inception in 1985. The MEA has changed with the state’s goals. What began as a traditional instrument with mostly multiple-choice items evolved into a program that relied exclusively on open-response items and a direct writing assessment. The program currently uses a mixed-format model. Another early innovation was the use of calculator sessions for mathematics assessments. More recently, in 2005-2006, the MEA introduced the use of computer-based testing.
Our work in Maine also includes professional development workshops conducted at five regional sites each fall. The workshops cover test administration, the scoring of constructed-response questions, and interpreting test results. |
Building upon successful multi-state collaborative work under the U.S. Department of Education's Enhanced Assessment Grant program, we became pioneers in supporting New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont as they created and implemented the New England Common Assessment Program (NECAP), the only multi-state large-scale assessment program in the nation.
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Louisiana contracts with Measured Progress for the development and delivery of professional development workshops that directly reinforce the state’s assessment program. The workshops are designed not only to better inform educators about the many different aspects of the assessment but to help educators improve classroom instruction and student learning.
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Assessments and Professional Development for Schools and Districts
Measured Progress recognizes that we must take our services into the classroom to achieve our mission of improving teaching and learning. As a result, we now offer a range of assessment products and professional development services to schools, districts, and multi-district collaboratives.
Measured Progress works with large districts on fully customized assessment programs.
| In the fall of 2002, Measured Progress began a partnership with Detroit Public Schools to develop and implement benchmark tests in reading and mathematics and to support the district in building brighter futures for the city’s children. |
We have delivered professional development programs to teachers in almost fifty districts, both urban and rural. Our work ranges from multi-day workshops to multi-year programs, all designed to help teachers understand assessment methods and data.
| Kentucky's Green River Regional Educational Collaborative hired Measured Progress to deliver a professional development program to more than 200 educators. The workshops focused on assessment at the classroom level and on assessment as an integral part of instructional practice. Smaller groups of educators participated in "train-the-trainer" sessions, preparing them to deliver the program to other teachers in their district. |
We are proud to work with several districts on the development of quality items or the customization of our Progress Toward Standards Item Bank. Using the item bank, we can also construct benchmark tests and sets of items for professional development.
| Wichita Public Schools asked Measured Progress to develop and deliver a high-quality item bank aligned to the Kansas Standards, Benchmarks, and Indicators (SBIs.) Part of the bank is used to develop districtwide benchmark assessments, while teachers use other items in the bank to build classroom assessments. |
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