This article was published on eSchool News by School News Staff on February 11, 2021.
As part of its commitment to helping educators address the challenges of unfinished learning, Savvas Learning Company is excited to announce it has teamed up with WestEd to develop one of the edtech industry’s most advanced math screener and diagnostic assessments that can enable teachers to quickly identify learning gaps and promote positive student outcomes.
Savvas, a K-12 next-generation learning solutions leader, will be launching its new Savvas Math Screener and Diagnostic Assessments for use with its enVision® Mathematics, the nation’s most popular math program. Developed in partnership with WestEd — a non-profit research, development, and service agency with expertise in assessments — the new Savvas assessment tools provide a clear picture of student performance at the individual, classroom, and district levels, and offer teachers actionable data to inform instruction.
“Students do not come to the math classroom with the same skills and content knowledge. This is especially true during this pandemic, with learning disruptions causing some vulnerable and disadvantaged students to fall further behind than their peers,” said Bethlam Forsa, CEO of Savvas Learning Company. “Yet identifying performance gaps can take up limited teaching time. That is why we have made it our mission to create an easy, fast, and reliable way to diagnose students’ math proficiencies to help get them back on track and accelerate their learning.”
The Savvas Math Screener and Diagnostic Assessments are available for use with any core math curriculum. It can also be integrated into the award-winning Savvas Realize™ learning management system for use with enVision® Mathematics for grades K-8 to provide a seamless approach to closing skills gaps and meeting students’ needs.
The cutting-edge screener and diagnostic assessments work in tandem to produce assessments that are norm referenced — meaning they compare student performance to grade-level expectations and to that of their peers across the country — and are valid because they accurately measure what they are intended to measure. The Savvas Math Screener and Diagnostic Assessments empower teachers by giving them deep insights into their students’ content knowledge and supporting differentiated, personalized learning.
What sets this comprehensive assessment toolkit apart is that it combines all of the following:
- Universal Screener — Given by a teacher to the entire class around the first week of school, this short, on-grade-level, accessible screening identifies proficiency in the prior year’s skills.
- Multistage Adaptive Diagnostic Assessment — This adaptive assessment identifies each student’s level of understanding of mathematical concepts, adjusting to the individual’s misconceptions and proficiencies in real-time and providing a range of math problems that are on, above, and below grade level.
- Flexible Instructional Recommendations — Robust data and reporting from the diagnostic assessments generate specific, leveled instructional resources recommended to address the needs of the individual learner and the class as a whole.
“The Savvas Math Screener and Diagnostic Assessments work together so that students are testing at a level matching their abilities, thus no more tears due to overwhelming tests,” said Heidi Bruhn, vice president of product management and marketing of K-12 Math for Savvas Learning Company. “Teachers benefit from the detailed picture they receive of each student and their class, with the freedom to use recommended resources throughout the school year. These are assessment tools that educators will come to love and trust.”
Savvas is pleased to work with WestEd because of the agency’s mission to promote excellence, achieve equity, and improve learning for children, youth, and adults. WestEd works with a variety of partners, including multiple federal agencies, state education departments, and major school districts, and has considerable expertise in developing custom, valid, and reliable assessment solutions.
“Our staff has experience working with a range of audiences, from preschool teachers to federal policymakers, to accelerate success for every learner,” said Glen Harvey, CEO of WestEd. “In collaboration with Savvas, we’ve developed powerful new assessments that are unbiased, equitable, and based on work rooted in research. We are proud that these vital tools will help teachers put students on a path to be successful in math.”
About Savvas Learning Company
At Savvas, we believe learning should inspire. By combining new ideas, new ways of thinking, and new ways of interacting, we design next-generation learning solutions that help prepare students to become global citizens in a more interconnected, digital world. To learn more, visit www.Savvas.com.
About WestEd
WestEd is a nonpartisan, nonprofit agency that conducts and applies research, develops evidence-based solutions, and provides services and resources in the realms of education, human development, and related fields, with the end goal of improving outcomes and ensuring equity for individuals from infancy through adulthood. For more information, visit WestEd.org. For regular updates on research, free resources, solutions, and job postings from WestEd, subscribe to the E-Bulletin, our semi-monthly e-newsletter, at WestEd.org/subscribe.
