TetraData partners with RISE at Iowa State University to place SIM III Standards-based Curriculum and Test Item Pool Online

TetraData Corporation and the Research Institute for Studies in Education (RISE) at Iowa State University announce that they will collaborate on a project that will computerize the centers School Improvement Model III, a standards-based curriculum and test item pool available for K-12 school districts.

Greenville, April 30, 2002:
TetraData Corporation and the Research Institute for Studies in Education (RISE) at Iowa State University announce that they will collaborate on a project that will computerize the centers School Improvement Model III, a standards-based curriculum and test item pool. The School Improvement Model (SIM) standards-based curriculum includes criterion-referenced test item pools developed cooperatively during the past decade by the RISE in the College of Education at Iowa State University and school districts in Arizona, Florida, Indiana, and Wyoming. This K-12 curriculum and test item pool includes material for Language Arts, Reading, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies. The term SIM emerged as the title of a five-year, K-12 school transformation study directed by Drs. Richard P. Manatt and Shirley B. Stow between 1979 and 1984. They studied how students learn, teachers teach, and administrators lead. SIM III is the name the Center gave the Model Curricula for the four basic subjects: language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies with the accompanying criterion-referenced test items. SIM III includes several thousand test items -- enough for formative tests as well as summative pre- and post-tests.
From the SIM III test item pool, TetraData and RISE will create an electronic test item bank that serves as a plug-in" for TetraDatas new online survey and assessment product, EASE-e Survey and Assess, which provides powerful, real-time feedback and analysis features for educators who wish to use testing to drive instruction and to measure learning.

Research Institute for Studies in Education
The Research Institute for Studies in Education provides leadership in assisting the College of Education to achieve and maintain a reputation of excellence in scholarship through research/contracts and grants, college research and planning, and external evaluation.

Richard P. Manatt, Ph.D.
Richard P. Manatt is a widely known consultant and writer. He authored more than 40 articles and five books. He is currently a professor of Educational Administration and Supervision in the College of Education at Iowa State University. He also directs the Iowa State School Improvement Model Project.

Shirley B. Stow, Ph.D.
Shirley B. Stow is the School Improvement Model Projects co-director and a professor in the College of Education at Iowa State University. For over 20 years, Dr. Stow has lead action research teams to help schools and districts nationwide as they improved the quality of their curriculum and instruction.

TetraData Corporation
TetraData Corporation produces easy-to-use, high quality measurement and assessment software for District Administrators and Principals that is designed to collect real-time data and to perform sophisticated analysis of multivariate data such as student demographics, financial information, test scores, attendance, discipline and more. The EASE-e software suite supports analysis over time and cohort tracking as well as online assessments and surveys. With the EASE-e suite to empower their decision-making processes, educational experts can explore, measure and assess the relationships between student learning and the learning environment.