McCann’s College Success™ Platform to be utilized to measure College Readiness Skills and Placement

EWING, N.J., May 6, 2010 –

The Florida Department of Education announced today that it has selected McCann Associates to develop, deliver and score the state’s new College Placement Test. The assessment, which is being customized to align with the Common Core College and Career Readiness Standards, will be used to assess a student’s readiness for college-level work and to identify appropriate course placement. The assessment will be available to high school and entering postsecondary students. It will be the primary placement assessment used by The Florida College System.

The Florida Department of Education will utilize McCann’s College Success platform, a highly accurate, reliable, valid and proven computer-adaptive placement testing system delivered via Software as a Service (SaaS). Utilizing sophisticated branching algorithms, the assessment will provide both placement as well as diagnostic capabilities, allowing for targeted course placement as well as a useful Response to Intervention (RtI) tool for individualized instruction aimed at correcting deficiencies. However, the primary use of the new College Placement Test will be to properly place students in the appropriate courses for them to succeed.

The specific core skills measured within College Success are:

• Reading Comprehension
• Sentence Skills/Writing
• Arithmetic
• Elementary Algebra
• Intermediate Algebra
• College Algebra
• English Language Proficiency

In addition to delivering and scoring Florida’s postsecondary readiness assessments, McCann Associates will be developing diagnostic tests in math, reading and writing that will provide targeted diagnostic feedback to help educators better identify students’ specific strength areas, as well as areas of needed improvement.

According to Dr. Judith Bilsky, Executive Vice Chancellor with the Division of Florida Colleges, “Due to extensive work by our faculty and input from business and industry, we are confident that this new test will accurately assess the knowledge and skills required for proper placement and college success.”

According to Pam Kirby, Vice President of McCann Associates, “The evidence is clear and supported by a large number of studies that many high school students are not ready for college and that the remedial costs are in the billions of dollars. And while we all desire and expect that a high school graduate has the requisite skills to succeed and enter secondary institutions being ‘college ready’, unfortunately this isn’t always the case. However, we can assure that they are placed in the proper courses and help reduce the remediation efforts on the part of colleges while supporting the students so their chances for success are greatest. We are very pleased to partner with the Florida Department of Education to assure each student entering college as a freshman is placed appropriately for success in all of their college subjects. College Success’ advanced adaptive delivery provides immediate and cost effective feedback to educators to make the right choices for their students.”

Incoming Florida college freshman will begin taking the assessments through College Success in August, 2010.

About McCann Associates

As an innovative leader in assessment, certification, learning management, and business intelligence solutions, McCann Associates changes the way the world learns and makes decisions. Levering advanced technology delivered via Software as a Service (SaaS), McCann currently provides solutions for: Higher Education; Government and Public Sector; Public Safety; and Corporate HR and Employee Learning. To learn more about how McCann Associates can help you, visit www.mccanntesting.com.