Press Release - May 31, 2006
Vantage Learning Posts Highest-Ever Transaction Volume for its Online Testing Programs
Over 26 million online test transactions were recorded in April, the highest monthly transaction volume in the company's history
Newtown, Pa., May 31, 2006 - Vantage Learning (www.VantageLearning.com), the world's leading provider of online assessment tools, announced today that 26 million online test transactions were posted in April-the highest single monthly volume in the company's history."This is a watershed moment for Vantage Learning and Web-based delivery of online assessment and instructional programs," says Harry Barfoot, Vice President of Marketing for Vantage Learning. "Vantage Learning has consistently set the standard for online delivery and systems availability for the assessment community-and now we've raised that bar again. This overwhelming support validates our mission to deliver the world's most sophisticated natural language understanding tools, especially the ability to understand writing."
Vantage Learning's record-breaking month was bolstered by successes with several large testing programs. The state of Oregon, a six-year Vantage Learning client and a pioneer user of online testing, delivered record transactions and concurrent users in April through the Technology Enhanced Student Assessment™ (TESA™) system. Overall, Oregon has delivered over 69 million test transactions during its testing cycle.
In addition, Vantage saw significant growth of its Student Progress Monitoring System™ (SPMS), a customizable program that helps teachers assess students' abilities in order to create appropriate curriculum standards. The state of Mississippi utilizes SPMS to deliver formative assessments to districts and schools throughout the state. Vantage also saw increases in its College Board's Accuplacer program, which is used for college placements.
Each of these programs is based on Vantage Learning's proprietary Vantage Learning Platform™ (VLP). VLP is used extensively for development and delivery of online assessment systems, and can be customized for unique client needs. For example, when used in high-stakes testing environments, it's known as the Vantage Uniform Online Testing System™. In a formative assessment environment, it is known as the Student Progress Monitoring System™.
About Vantage Learning
With over 146 million online test transactions last year, Vantage Learning is the world's leading provider of online assessment and automated essay scoring. Recognized as the gold standard for scoring quality, consistency, reliability, and scalability, Vantage Learning's award-winning education tools meet the needs of educators and school administrators, businesses and government agencies that need a comprehensive Internet-based test authoring, delivery, scoring, and reporting platform. Vantage developed IntelliMetric®, which administers and scores responses to open-ended questions over the Internet using advanced artificial intelligence (AI) technology. Vantage Learning's MY Access!® instructional writing program won a Codie Award in 2006 for Best Instructional Program - English/Language Arts: Secondary, is a dual 2005 Codie Award Winner, is a 2004 Award of Excellence winner from Technology and Learning Magazine, and Eduventures selected Vantage Learning as one of the eight most innovative educational technology companies.
Vantage Learning provides services across a broad spectrum of clients. The College Board, ACT, and the Graduate Management Admission Council® (GMAC®), all utilize Vantage technologies for college readiness and admissions. Oregon, Mississippi, Texas, and Virginia leverage the Vantage Learning Platform™ , the Student Progress Monitoring System™, and the Uniform Online Testing System™ (UOTS) for formative, summative, diagnostic, and computer adaptive assessments that drive instructional programs. Respected publishers like Hampton-Brown offer customized versions to support assessment linked to their proprietary content. School districts such as Los Angeles Unified School District, Red Clay Del., Milwaukee Public Schools, Newark Public Schools, and many other respected districts integrate MY Access! into their core language arts curriculum.
To find out more about Intellimetric essay scoring, go to http://escholarship.bc.edu/jtla/vol4/4/. To find out more about Vantage Learning, go to www.VantageLearning.com.