Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) today announced a partnership with the Houston Independent School District (ISD), the largest school district in the state of Texas and the seventh largest in the country to provide teachers and administrators with data-driven measures of student achievement.
Announced today at the Texas Assessment Conference in Austin, Houston ISD will adopthttp://www.schoolcio.com/Default.aspx?tabid=111&ctl=UserArticleManage&mid=474 HMH’s Iowa Assessments™; Logramos®3rd Edition, an assessment of achievement in Spanish; and the Cognitive Abilities Test™ (CogAT®) – a decision that will impact more than 210,000 students in 282 schools throughout the district.
HMH’s solution will continue to enable Houston ISD to assess student achievement relative to district, state, and national levels, while also equipping teachers and administrators with information to make decisions regarding gifted status and student grade placement.
“Through this partnership, Houston ISD will have access to assessments that provide a clear and accurate portrait of student achievement, allowing educators to more effectively identify areas of strength and weakness, and create personalized learning pathways to meet those needs,” said Jim Nicholson, President, HMH–Riverside. “Our plan for the school district is built upon comprehensive training and support that will help ensure that our assessments bring value to teachers and administrators within the district.”
The Iowa Assessments, the result of a longstanding partnership between HMH–Riverside and the University of Iowa, monitors growth through a continuous research-based vertical scale. Its newest Forms E and F measure achievement in core academic areas important for success at the college and university level. It also provides the opportunity to evaluate performance against next-generation academic standards and track college and career readiness.
As the newest group-administered assessment of achievement in Spanish, Logramos 3rd Edition measures five subject areas—Reading, Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies. With a Hispanic student population topping 60 percent in the district, Logramos supports HISD’s educational goals for English Language Learners (ELLs).
CogAT, the assessment to measure students’ cognitive abilities and learning styles, offers a new edition that is accessible for ELL students. New features include the use of pictures and figures rather than words and phrases that may be unfamiliar to non-native speakers, providing an equitable testing experience for all students.
