FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The latest version of Richer Picture provides new tools for students and teachers to demonstrate their best work. Teachers can now participate in an online community of assessors to examine the Common Core, and to decide, "Is our work good enough?"

Online calibration allows teachers work together on assessment. Teachers can put together a group of colleagues, and decide what they want to review:

• Student work from the same assignment;
• Responses to different assignments (such as lab reports or persuasive essays) that use the same rubric; or
• Entries that correspond to different standards, such as the Common Core.

The power of this tool comes from the ability for each of the teachers to contribute to the conversation. By allowing teachers to work together to decide what work "meets the standard" - and why - each teacher can better understand the rubric, the standard. Through this process, teachers can give more effective feedback; the members of the group can help each other understand what to look for in the work.

The Online Calibration tool brings together a number of key ideas in assessment. This process is used in large-scale scoring of open-ended responses on state tests; it also builds on the work being done by many Professional Learning Communities. (Examples of how these protocols have been used face to face can be found at the Looking at Student Work web site.)

This innovation represents how Richer Picture approaches its work with schools. "It's not just about the technology," said David Niguidula, the organization's Founder. "It's about creating conversations in schools among students, teachers, parents and administrators that meet an educational need."

For further information, please contact Richer Picture at 401-785-0401 or send an email to info@richerpicture.com.