Illinois education board studying teacher testing costs

WQAD | April 18, 2019

Illinois education officials are considering whether the cost of teacher licensure tests may be contributing to the state's teacher shortage.The (Springfield) State Journal-Register reports that the Illinois State Board of Education discussed Wednesday how to solve the problem while still maintaining high quality in classrooms. Higher-education partners and teacher candidates have told board members that one basic skills test costs $113 and another test is $300.The board indefinitely has put on hold the Test of Academic Proficiency starting June 30 while it studies other ways to test teachers' basic skills.Three bills are pending in the Illinois General Assembly that would eliminate the test or refund the cost to certain teachers. A board lobbyist says it has taken a neutral position on bills eliminating the test.

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This whitepaper explores how eLearning providers (Learning Management Systems, Training Management Systems, Learning Experience Platforms, and content providers etc.) can convert these challenges into opportunities by prioritizing the customer experience (CX) to increase customer satisfaction and profitability.

Spotlight

This whitepaper explores how eLearning providers (Learning Management Systems, Training Management Systems, Learning Experience Platforms, and content providers etc.) can convert these challenges into opportunities by prioritizing the customer experience (CX) to increase customer satisfaction and profitability.

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TALENT DEVELOPMENT

Melmark Starts Its New England School Facility in Stoughton

Melmark | March 10, 2023

On March 09, 2023, Melmark, a non-profit human service organization, started a new school facility for special education and recreational environment in Stoughton, Massachusetts. It selected Maggiore Construction Corporation with Roth and Seelen, Inc. to design and build this facility. It conducted the groundbreaking ceremony on January 24, 2023. This facility will offer a state-of-the-art and accessible special education learning and recreational surrounding, opening in May. Its New England division presently enrolled about 132 students at its Andover school, and this new facility will educate up to 84 students. It will provide new opportunities for school districts, students, and families deprived of clinically sophisticated educational services. In addition, it would also offer job opportunities with skilled special education leaders. This facility has a license from DESE and helps students aged 3 to 22 with an intensive individualized education approach. This approach and a behavioral framework create the learning environment needed for education. Its students are diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and intellectual and developmental disabilities, having secondary to complex behavioral profiles. Melmark New England is also the Massachusetts Association of 766 Approved Private Schools (MAAPS) member. President and CEO of Melmark, Rita M. Gardner said, "This is a poignant time in the history of Melmark, this is a project that was slated to start during the COVID-19 pandemic. We are thrilled to stay focused on the needs of families in our communities. We are collaborating with school professionals, families, and other stakeholders to share information about the opportunities our new school will make available, as we are keenly aware of the critical, growing need for the evidence-based services we offer. The new school building will support spacious, intentionally designed classroom environments with innovative tools for learning and skills building. This growth in MA reflects our mission and strategic goal to serve children in diverse and inclusive communities who need and deserve Melmark's specialized special education services to reach their best outcomes." (Source – Cision PR Newswire) About Melmark Headquartered in Berwyn, Pennsylvania, Melmark, an individual and family services provider, specializes in applied behavior analysis, special needs, intellectual disabilities, developmental disabilities, autism, education, healthcare, approved private school autism and intellectual disabilities, charity and non-profit, and volunteers. It is a multi-state human service provider with special education schools, training, research centers and professional development. It has transformed the lives of individuals with autism, intellectual and developmental disabilities and supporting their families since 1966. It provides evidence-based and behavior-analytic services to them daily.

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CONTINUING EDUCATION

Pathify Selected by Brigham Young University-Hawaii to Personalize Student Experience

Newswire | May 19, 2023

Pathify — the premier centralized user experience hub for higher ed — is honored to welcome Brigham Young University-Hawaii to their expanding community of partners committed to improving the student technology experience. The institution, which is part of the nationwide Church Educational System for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, plans to implement Pathify to optimize the digital experience for students. "We are excited about the many different features that the Pathify portal provides," said Leilani Guerrero, Manager of Digital Communications at Brigham Young University-Hawaii. "Being able to make resources available by groups and communicate with those individual groups is very important when we have such a diverse and international student body with different needs. Pathify also allows us to provide a customizable repository of tools and allows for two-way communication between students and departments." Pathify fills the massive user experience void at the center of the higher education digital ecosystem, delivering a personalized user experience unifying technology, content, communications and people. Offering highly personalized experiences for users at every point in their journey, the Engagement Hub encourages system-agnostic integrations, collaborative social groups, personalized tasks, and multi-channel communication with full web/mobile parity. "BYU-Hawaii represents a unique partner and use case for our platform," said Matt Hammond, Chief Revenue Officer at Pathify. "Their unique campus environment and distinct institutional culture create an exciting opportunity for how they utilize Pathify to support their students. We can't wait to see the awesome work they do!" BYU-Hawaii joins the Pathify customer community along other recent customers such as Howard Payne University, Aquinas College, and their sibling institution - Brigham Young University-Idaho. About Pathify Obsessed with making great technology while developing incredible long-term relationships with customers, Pathify remains hyper-focused on creating stellar experiences across the entire student lifecycle. Delivering cloud-based, integration-friendly software designed to drive engagement, Pathify pushes personalized content to the right people, at the right time — on any device. Pathify is led by former higher ed executives, entrepreneurs and technology leaders. About Brigham Young University-Hawaii Brigham Young University-Hawaii is the preeminent international center of learning in the Pacific. Its small campus is a unique laboratory of intercultural leadership development, where a diverse population of 3,200 students representing over 70 countries live, study and work together. Small classes taught by expert faculty empower students to master a challenging and relevant curriculum. Affordable tuition, financial aid, and online study options make this valuable education more accessible. Operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a total BYU-Hawaii education involves not only intellectual learning and career preparation, but also moral, ethical, and spiritual enrichment. All the while, students enjoy living and learning in one of the most beautiful places on earth. Graduates go forth to serve, prepared to promote peace and prosperity as leaders worldwide.

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CORPORATE LEARNING SYSTEMS

iMocha launches project-based assessments to simulate real-world challenges and enable experiential learning

iMocha | April 13, 2023

iMocha, the world's leading skills intelligence and skills assessment platform launches project-based assessments to its growing portfolio of assessment types. It is built for talent development teams to gather whether employees are skill-fit and ready to be deployed on projects and determine ROI of learning programs. Today, tech assessments are usually done via single-task coding assessments, whiteboard interviews, and MCQs but that's seldom enough to gauge project-readiness of employees or know the effectiveness of the upskilling programs. Especially for job profiles like front-end developer, back-end developer, full-stack developer, assessments that go beyond algorithms, syntax, and logic are required. iMocha's project-based assessments help talent professionals overcome these challenges and determine skill readiness, including problem-solving skills, domain-specific skills, contextual understanding, and ability to think through a project. In August 2022, the beta version of iMocha Projects was deployed for iMocha's existing customers that included enterprises and learning platforms. Through the project-based assessments, L&D teams were able to automate time-consuming, manual evaluations that could be subject to bias. Further they also received detailed skills analytics about their employees – which helped in creating accurate and personalized learning paths. Some of the most popular skill sets beta users utilized were ReactJS, Data Science and Machine Learning, Java Spring Boot, MySQL, and more. Sujit Karpe, CTO and co-founder of iMocha, explained, "This is iMocha's version of capstone projects: we provide the data, the problem statement, and essentially everything required to successfully work on a project. Often, coding assessments fell short in determining real-life skills; they also cannot handle multiple project files like ReactJS, Angular, Jupyter Lab, and more. With iMocha projects, talent development leaders can bridge the gap between experiential learning and hands-on knowledge application by evaluating employees on real-world challenges, similar to what they would be facing on the job." He continued, "With iMocha Projects, talent leaders will be able to show true value gained via their L&D programs and measure training effectiveness objectively." About iMocha iMocha is a skills intelligence and assessment platform that enables talent leaders to make smarter talent decisions with its skills-first insights. 500+ organizations across 70+ countries trust the platform to acquire job-fit talent faster and to measure the ROI from their talent development initiatives. It empowers talent teams with the largest skill library with 2500+ assessments, AI-LogicBox (AI-based pseudo-coding simulator), AI-EnglishPro (AI-powered language analyzer), skill benchmarking, upskilling dashboard, talent analytics, proctoring, fraud detection, and custom assessment consulting, etc.

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