Teachers are always looking for the best ways to improve student outcomes, and the recent partnership between the Council for Aid to Education, Inc. (CAE) and Otus is a step in the right direction. The collaboration between CAE, a leader in designing innovative performance tasks for measurement and instruction of higher-order skills and subject area assessments, and Otus, an integrated platform that gathers student data from its own or any third-party evaluation, enables educators to monitor and plan for academic growth, social-emotional development, and personalized learning goals, is a game-changer for educators.
The integration of CAE’s College and Career Readiness Assessment (CCRA+) into the Otus platform will give teachers a comprehensive view of their student’s needs and the support required to succeed. With CCRA+ results going directly into the Otus platform, teachers can create custom reports to analyze performance trends over time by student groups such as race/ethnicity, special education status, and English language learners. Educators can also use the platform to identify students performing below expectations and add them to a personalized learning plan that supports their growth towards future readiness.
Bob Yayac, President & CEO of CAE, said: “Partnering with Otus, a true industry leader, will help CAE positively impact the lives of more students across the country. CCRA+ is a valuable tool that can help educators identify students’ strengths and opportunities for improvement in critical thinking, problem-solving, and written communication.”
Chris Hull, President & Co-founder of Otus, added: “We are excited to join forces with CAE to introduce CCRA+ to the Otus community. CCRA+ is a highly effective assessment tool that empowers educators to understand better how students’ skills can be applied in real-world scenarios. This partnership underscores our commitment to preparing every student for their future, equipping them with the necessary tools to navigate their path to success.”
The performance-based assessments developed by the Council for Aid to Education authentically measure the critical academic and career readiness skills of critical thinking, problem-solving, and effective written communication. CCRA+ can be used for formative, interim, and summative purposes, including establishing a baseline for students, evaluating how their essential skills have progressed, and showcasing their skills upon graduation. The platform is used by more than 800,000 students at over 1,300 institutions worldwide and is supported by leading foundations.
The collaboration between CAE and Otus is an important development that will help teachers get a holistic picture of student performance. By combining CCRA+ data with other assessment data districts are collecting, educators can make informed instructional decisions to improve student outcomes. This will ultimately lead to improved results for more than 1 million learners and their families.
