edifyAsses

edifyAssess is an on-line program, which provides interim and teacher made formative assessments aligned to the Iowa Core for students in grades 3-12 in literacy, mathematics, and science. As in the business world, the computer can be used to do things we have traditionally done in schools by hand more quickly and efficiently, saving teachers time and energy. 

Various schools have reported that performance on the edifyAssess Iowa benchmarks predicts performance on the Iowa Assessments in reading and math. Hawaii schools that used the Iowa benchmarks note that performance on the math benchmarks predicts performance on the Smarter Balanced math assessments. (Hawaii did not use the reading assessments in their implementation.)

The Iowa benchmark (interim) assessments are offered to the students in participating schools in grades 3-12, three times annually in mathematics and monthly in reading comprehension. Schools are invited to write their own science benchmarks aligned with their local scope and sequence using the edifyAssess item bank. Teachers and district personnel have access to the edify item bank and can make their own assessments, benchmarks and more, should they choose. Additionally the program has functionality for teachers and district personnel to write their own items, should they not find what they're looking for in the edify item bank, though it is large and comprehensive.

This program has easy to understand and easy to access reports. Students take assessments and upon completion of the assessment, students and  teachers receive instant, standards-based performance reports. Some reports with more complex analyses may take over night to load, and the information at the student level, the teacher level, the school level and the district level make this reporting system best-in-class in on line assessment products. These standards-based reports offer an excellent resource for lesson planning and standards-based report cards.

ISFIS no longer offers this program. However we believe it to be a fine product, and if you are interested, you can contact Susie Olesen at ISFIS (susie@iowaschoolfinance.com or 641-745-5284) and she will answer questions and/or put you in touch with Kevin Howell at Edify Learning. If you want to contact Kevin directly, do so at kevin@edifylearning.com or 646-544-6792.