PASeries a 2006 CODiE Award finalist

Even though PASeries is less than two years old, it's been selected for a second time as a CODiE Award finalist, this time in the category for Best Student Test Preparation Solution.

This honor, according to the Software and Information Industry Association (the organization behind the CODiEs), is awarded to the best computer-based or on-line solution for preparation for high-stakes tests for preK-12 or postsecondary students, including both formative and summative assessments and tutorial services. PASeries was nominated based on our scientifically based, valid, and reliable formative assessment that offers schools, districts and states a way to measure progress throughout the school year and forecast growth.

Measuring growth in Chapel Hill

We've just announced a new place where PASeries is being used, and it's our first district in North Carolina. Nearly three thousand grade 3-8 students in Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools are using PASeries Mathematics to measure their performance toward the North Carolina End-of-Grade (NCEOG) tests. Chapel Hill-Carrboro is one of the top 37 U.S. districts and the top-performing school district in the Southeast.

The PASeries assessments are being aligned to North Carolina standards and will provide forecasts of NCEOG performance.

Pulling back the curtain

Reading PASeries Parsed, you may ask yourself: "Does it make sense for me to create a blog for my district, school or classroom? What are its promises? Pitfalls? How do I start?"

THE Journal was kind enough to ask for an article about blogging in education, and the results appear in the current issue. Not only does it highlight how blogs are being used by teachers and students in various situations, but also provides some resources and behinds-the-scenes indicators as to why PASeries Parsed and another Pearson blog, TrueScores (helmed by Dr. Jon Twing), have the tone and approach that they do.

The bottom-line advice: Find something you're passionate about, and for which there is a need for timely, unvarnished information. Then just go for it. As one famous writer once said, the only way to become a good writer is to write. The only way to become a good blogger is to blog.